


Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders

by Androzani84



Series: Sentai Adaptations [3]
Category: Power Rangers, 宇宙戦隊キュウレンジャー | Uchu Sentai Kyuranger
Genre: Alternate Universe, Kyuranger adaptation, Other, but I think I’ve got an interesting take on it., its been done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 41
Words: 161,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23918053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Androzani84/pseuds/Androzani84
Summary: When the universe is invaded by the Gingaku Intergalactic Samurai Clan, a group of warriors, bound by nothing but faith and destiny, will fight to overthrow the threat.
Series: Sentai Adaptations [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147868
Kudos: 2





	1. The End of the Universe, part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Power Rangers RPM ReGeared](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708021) by [MarineDynamite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarineDynamite/pseuds/MarineDynamite). 



** Planet Earth, Orion-Cygnus Arm. **

It was a historic day in the history of interstellar travel. On the day of April 28th, 2022, the first shuttle flight targeted outside the Solar System was set to launch. Astronauts Yuri Michaels and Gregory Packer were manning the shuttle, which was set for a launch at 15PM, local time. But before they could take off, the two were seeing to their loose ends.

Namely, Yuri was seeing to his childhood friend, Pamela Jones. “Can you believe it, Pam?”, Yuri said. “I’m about to really go where no man has gone before. This is going to be something else.”

“I know.”, Pamela responded, dejectedly. “It’s just a shame that I’m probably going to lose you in the process.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it.”, Yuri put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be back before you know it. So will Greg. It’s not like anything’s going to happen out there.”

As if on cue, Gregory appeared and patted his co-pilot on the shoulder. “Hey, rookie. I think they’ll be expecting us at the launch pad soon.” Yuri nodded and walked off. Gregory then turned to Pamela. “Hey, don’t worry about Yuri. I’ll be there to help him prevent a screw up.” With that, he turned and walked off with his co-pilot.

“I can only hope you two have good luck.”, was all Pamela could say as she saw the shuttle take off, departing for distant galaxies, with no guarantee of a return.

* * *

A guarantee that soon became even more unlikely 40 minutes later. Objects fell from the sky, namely helmets. Those who went near the helmets found their heads trapped by them, being transformed into black-suited beings with various different-coloured logos. In the days to come, they came to be known as Detainers. As the newly created Detainers began to attack those who remained unaffected, large tower-like gears plunged into the ground in various major cities, as if to make a statement. As various alien creatures emerged from the gears, a message was broadcast. The message depicted a white cloaked figure, who had a very clear message.

“People of Earth. Please attend carefully. You now enjoy the generous protection of the Gingaku Intergalactic Samurai Clan, as does every other inhabited planet in this universe. As long as you avoid resistance, we can assure you a relatively normal status quo. If not, then actions will be taken to dissuade resistance. So says Lord Gingaku.”

Pamela could only hope that Yuri and Gregory were okay, wherever they had ended up.

* * *

** Five Years Later. Planet Psyga-6, Archer Nebula. **

Glom Harborg was running. The era of Gingaku had been rough on him, as it had so many others. He had been forced to turn to crime in order to support not just his wife and spawn, but also the various others in his neighbourhood. While he had managed to stay hidden for a while now, he had been sighted on the holo-viewers at the marketplace and been forced to flee. Now, for one act of clumsiness, his likeness, a yellow squid-like creature with a beak and 4 legs, dressed in workers fatigues, was now being transmitted from the Dark Gear, along with the voice of their current dictator Metaro blaring out.

“ _Be on the lookout for this creature. He is wanted for the theft of 5 Lakefruits from the Market in Sector 6456.”_ , Metaro’s distorted sounding voice blared. _“A reward of 50 Ginlars and 5-cycle work-unit exemption will be offered to the one who captures him.”_

“‘50 Ginlars for a couple of fruits? That seems low.” Glom turned around to see a strange creature standing there. It looked mammalian, but not like any mammal Glom was familiar with. This one had hair exclusively on the top of its cranium, with most of its skin exposed. The creature was dressed in black overalls, with a a strange red-striped insignia with some stars in the corner, on its lapel. The creature gestured to the alleyway behind them. “Come on, if we go this way, I think you’ll be safe.

But unfortunately, Glom did not speak this creature’s strange linguistics, nor did he have a translator like the Gingaku members carried to facilitate communication. But it could tell that the creature was likely trying to offer help. But not being able to ascertain the mammal’s intents, he hesitated. Unfortunately, in that hesitation, Glom and the mammal were captured by the Detainers, who were being led by a Commanaga, a creature that human readers would note resembled a leaf.

“Take these two to Metaro’s office.”, the Commanaga ordered. “A common thief and his potential accomplice. This should be motivational to the others of this planet.”

* * *

**Across the planet, Spaceport Notraider.**

As the latest shuttle transporting workforce units came in, three figures, who were certainly not work units, snuck off to the side as the others disembarked. These three consisted of a humanoid woman, with an odd complexion, a humanoid male and a bull-like humanoid robot. “We’ve gotta love these Anti-Perception Kits that we stole from the lab on Miranoi.”, the robot declared.

The woman shushed him. “Tarrant, not so loud. Any sufficient noise we make can easily make us visible to the Gingaku goons.”

“Luckily for us, no seems to have noticed.”, the third member of their party replied. “Now then Mila, do you have any idea why we came to this planet?”

Mila shook her head. “Not a clue, Slash. I just got something telling me that we should come to this planet. You’ve probably felt it too.”

Tarrant thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I’ve been feeling like there’s a little voice in my head, telling me that something big is waiting to happen.”

Slash pulled out a yellow sphere from his pocket. It was mounted in a metal frame like a globe model, with the base having “09” written on it. “You think it’s got something to do with these?”, he asked.

Mila and Tarrant pulled out their own spheres, coloured green and black and numbered “07” and “05” respectively. “It could be the Cosmo Spheres trying to tell us something, but I’m not sure.”, was Mila’s response. “If they are trying to tell us something, then what?”

* * *

**Gingaku’s Temple, Unknown Planet**.

In a dark room, the white-cloaked figure of Gingaku was greeted by his shadow, Dark Soul, a warrior in a tunic, wearing an ornate mask over his face and carrying a sword. “My Lord, I have news for you. An arrest has been made on one of your frontier worlds.”, the masked man reported.

Gingaku was unimpressed. “This is a matter for the ruler of that sector of space. I shouldn’t be called upon for such trivialities. Local matters of no concern.”

“Yes, my Lord. But there seems to be some trouble. Metaro’s server-droid has reported a jurisdiction problem.” To demonstrate, Dark Soul brought up a holographic image of said server-droid. It had a female appearance, with a white plastic composition and pink “hair”.

“ _Secretary Unit R-283 reporting in. A work unit was captured in the removal of Lakefruits that did not belong in its possession. He has already had a punishment allocated to him. However, a non-terrestrial life form was caught attempting to aid in a rescue attempt. Lord Metaro is requesting advice on how to proceed._ ” The robot said all of this, without missing a beat.

Gingaku was now intrigued. “An offworlder, hmmm? I suppose if I were to see this offworlder, I could request for him to be transferred to the appropriate authority for his punishment. Send me a visual.”

“At once, Lord Gingaku.” The android uploaded an image of the human prisoner. “According to our interrogation, his name is Yuri and he hails from the planet Earth. No other data is available, as the prisoner’s mind has been wiped of all else.”

Dark Soul reacted to the image of the prisoner. “No, it can’t be.” He turned to Gingaku. “My Lord, surely it wouldn’t do to let this planet hopping criminal live on.”

Gingaku was shocked to see his servant’s bloodlust. “It’s not orthodox, but you have a good point, my loyal servant. Droid, schedule an execution. Broadcast universally.”

“ _At once my Lord_.” With that, the call ended.

* * *

** Planet Psyga-6, Metaro’s office. **

Yuri was just sitting back on the sofa provided by the Gingaku goons. He supposed that was one good thing that could be said about them, in the midst of all their galaxy conquering. Though to be honest, he didn’t really remember what life was like before they took over. He had just woke up in the woods of a planet one day and found that they were everywhere. All he had been able to ascertain from the stuff he had been found with was that his name was Yuri and he came from a planet called “Earth”. Other than that, all he could recall was a giant lion in space. Everything else was a blur. So since then, he had spent every waking hour sneaking from planet to planet until he could get home. Without a workers permit, he couldn’t go through any legal customs, forcing him to stick to being covert in his travels. Until right now, where he had stopped to help that man and been caught for it. Now he was waiting for his own sentencing, while that man had been found guilty and forcibly converted into a Detainer. And since he couldn’t read any of the magazines, he was stuck pondering over the strange red globe he carried everywhere with him. He didn’t know where it had come from, he just knew that it was with him for a reason. He just didn’t know what it was.

Yuri was snapped out of his reverie by the arrival of a Commanaga. “We’ve decided your punishment. Come with me.” The brute dragged his prisoner into the office of Metaro and departed. Metaro was a metallic being, with an indent in his forehead and golden and green armour. He also had a black collar with a cape bellowing down.

“So, what’ve you got lined up for me?”, Yuri asked. “A slap on the wrist and then you send me back home?”

“That would normally be the case with unlicensed offworlders.”, Metaro replied. “But Lord Gingaku decided that you should be used to make an example to the people.”

“That’s never good news.”, Yuri commented.

“Indeed.”, R-283 replied. “You have been sentenced to execution. Detainers, take him to the beast.”

Yuri was shocked to hear this. “Wait, there’s a beast?”, he asked as he was dragged away. “Don’t I get a phone call?”

But Metaro ignored him, instead turning towards R-283. “Prepare for a broadcast to be made. All events for today are cancelled.” He turned around and prepared himself for the transmitter.

* * *

“ _People of the universe. I am Metaro, ruler of the Archer Nebula. Today, this offworlder was captured intruding on my planet Psyga-6. (An image of Yuri appeared) His name is Yuri and he hails from a backwater planet known as Earth. When captured, it turned out that he possessed no legal papers allowing him access to my planet. As such, he will soon be fed to my pet, as a warning to all those who wish to follow in his example. And to drive my point home, the entire execution will be shown live as a special treat for all of you.”_

In the streets of Psyga-6, Mila, Tarrant and Slash looked at the image of the human on the monitor. “You think that guy could be the reason the Cosmo Spheres told us to come here?”, Slash asked.

“It seems like it.”, Mila answered. “But the question is ‘why?’ What’s so special about an out of place human on this planet?”

“I suppose we’ll find out by locating and rescuing him.”, Slash noted. “The execution pit isn’t far from here, let’s go.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Detainers had reached the pit and were preparing to throw Yuri in there. “Can’t we cut a deal?”, asked the prisoner. But the Detainers, not possessing a will of their own, simply ignored this and threw him into the pit. Yuri landed fairly softly, to find himself surrounded by bones of different shapes and sizes. “Whatever’s in here must be something terrifying.”, he said to himself.

As if on cue, a humanoid wolf with blue skin and a tuft of white hair emerged from the shadows. It had no clothes, barring a loincloth and something dangling from a string around its neck. There was also a collar around its neck, which seemed to be causing it pain. The creature lunged at Yuri, who dodged to the side and grabbed a rib that was left over from a previous victim. He swung the makeshift weapon at his would-be predator, damaging the collar slightly. It was then that the predator spoke. “Help…me….”

“You can talk?”, Yuri asked. Then he realised. “That collar… its restraining you from doing anything.”

“Destroy… collar….”, the wolf growled out. “Please.”

“I’ll try.”, Yuri responded. “But it’s not going to be easy to break with what I’ve got here.” Then the globe in his pocket began to glow, as did the object around the wolf’s neck. There was a flash that knocked the two back.

When their vision returned to normal, the wolf’s collar crumbled to dust, to which he took a deep breath. “Thanks for that. I couldn’t control myself with that thing limiting my thinking ability. How’d you do it?”

“I’m not quite sure myself.”, was Yuri’s answer. Then he noticed the globe in his pocket was still glowing. “Can I have a look at that thing around your neck?” One look showed that it was almost identical to the globe, only the wolf’s was blue, had different symbols and was numbered “03”. “They’re almost the same. Oh by the way, my name’s Yuri. What’s yours?”

“Let me think. Oh yeah, it’s Jiro.”, was the reply. “So where’d you get that fancy ball? I got mine when an evil empire wrecked my planet. Not Gingaku, a different group. I was just a cub when that happened.”

“I don’t know where I got this thing.”, Yuri said, holding up his globe. “I just woke up one day and it was lying next to me. I haven’t even figured out what these symbols mean.” As he said this, he slid one set of symbols to align with the others, creating the image of a lion. The globe then flashed again. “Ok, it’s never done that before.”

“Hey let me try.”, Jiro said, moving his own globe’s symbols into position, creating the image of a wolf, which flashed. “Woah, that’s new.”

* * *

At the top of the pit, R-283 observed the events transpiring beneath her. “The execution as planned has failed.” She turned to the on-duty Commanaga. “You are to see to it that both of them are terminated.”

“Right.”, the Commanaga nodded before jumping into the pit.

The Detainers were about to join him, but suddenly, three figures appeared and started attacking them with weapons. The droid registered a slender green-suited fighter, armed with a rapier, an armoured black-suited fighter armed with and axe and an average-built yellow fighter wielding a knife. All three had the same insignia, a stylised Star, and the same object, a red blaster, on their left arms. The three made quick work of the Detainers and pointed their blasters at her. “Give us one good reason why we shouldn’t just deactivate you and sell you for scrap.”, the green fighter said. R-283 recognised the pitch as that of a female.

The droid then put her hands up. “If you spare me, then I can guarantee that you escape from this planet.”, she said. “I can also attempt to ensure the safety of the one about to be executed, as I assume you came here to save.”

“You mean the prisoner you just sent your goon in to kill?”, the green fighter responded. “No thanks. I’ll handle them myself.” With that, she jumped into the pit, leaving the Android in the hands of her two associates.

* * *

In the pit, Yuri and Jiro came face to face with the dispatched Commanaga. “Since the mutt can’t be trusted to get rid of you human, I’ve been sent to do the job myself.” He brandished his staff before bashing it into the ground.

“Let’s see you try, blockhead.”, Yuri said. He inadvertently raised his globe, which caused a gauntlet to appear on his arm. He looked at it and saw that it was a some sort of gun. It was coloured red and had a star symbol in black with a white outline decorating it. “I don’t know what just happened, but I assume I could use this as a weapon.” He flicked down a trigger handle and aimed at the Commanaga, shooting him with enough force to knock him back. “A little underwhelming, but still good.”

The Commanaga recovered quickly from this shot. “You’ll pay for that.”

But before he could make good on that threat, he was assaulted by the newly arrived green fighter, who knocked him back again with a slash of her rapier. She then ran over to Yuri. “You’re okay now sir. Me and my team are here to -” then she noticed the gauntlet on his arm. “That’s a Cosmo Morpher? Then that means you must have a Cosmo Sphere.”

Yuri was confused, but presented his globe. “You mean this thing?”

“Exactly.”, was the woman’s reply. “Insert it into the Cosmo Morpher, say Cosmic Energy, Unleash and press the sphere to your right. Then you’ll be able to fight like me.” Suddenly, the Commanaga recovered and began grappling with her. “And I could really use your help with this guy.”

Yuri nodded. He inserted the Cosmo Sphere into the centre of the gauntlet, before saying “Cosmic Energy, Unleash.” He then knocked the sphere to his right and pulled the trigger. A star-shaped beam was fired from the nozzle, which flew back around and hit Yuri, transforming him into a suit much like his would-be rescuer, but in red. It was also themed after a lion, whereas hers was themed after a chameleon. “Woah, this is unbelievable.”, he said as he checked himself over.

Jiro seemed excited by Yuri’s change. “Maybe I can do that too.” He held up his own Cosmo Sphere, only for nothing to happen. “How come I don’t get one of these cool blasters?”, he whined.

Yuri ignored him, engaging the Commanaga in combat and landing a few punches on him, while taking a few in return. “Man, one-on-one fighting isn’t as easy as they make it look in the movies.”, he said.

“Perhaps you could do with a weapon on par with mine.”, the Commanaga said as he pushed his staff forward.

“‘A weapon’?”, Yuri thought. “Then he turned to his new ally. “Do these suits come with weapons we can use to fight back?”, he asked.

“Indeed they do.”, she answered. “Just do this.” She pushed her hand forward and generated energy versions of three components, a blade, an axe-like lower blade and a handle. She grabbed the handle and flipped out a second blade, hidden within. “Cosmo Blade!”, she declared as she ran forward to continue her attack.

“Good to know.”, Yuri nodded. He mimicked her gesture, conjuring the three components. “I think I should try for something a bit more powerful.” He grabbed all three pieces and stuck them together to form a sword. “I’m going to call this thing ‘Cosmo Saber!’.” He then ran forward and began swinging his new weapon, knocking the Commanaga back.

“So I’m dealing with two of you costumed clowns, huh?”, the Commanaga grunted. “That won’t make a difference.”

“Can we shut this guy up?”, Yuri asked. “Like, for good?”

“As a matter of fact, we can.”, his ally told him. “Just insert your Cosmo Sphere onto the hilt and attack while pressing the trigger in the handle.” She removed the Cosmo Sphere from her Morpher to demonstrate, placing it on her Cosmo Blade’s underside. “Now you.”

Yuri nodded, removing his own Cosmo Sphere and placing it on the hilt of his Cosmo Saber. The weapons were immediately supercharged with energy, which was unleashed when the two did a slashing gesture while pulling their triggers. “Cosmic Energy Slash/Strike!, the two declared.

The two slashes hit the underprepared Commanaga, causing him to spark. “Looks like it was my head on the block here.”, he managed to say before collapsing and exploding, leaving behind a burnt out corpse..

With their enemy defeated, Yuri willed himself to return to normal and the powers flowing through him obliged. “Alright, I’ve got some questions. Like, who are you?”

The green woman also powered down, to reveal a mostly humanoid woman. “My name is Mila. My team and I came to this planet in response to a message from our Cosmo Spheres. I didn’t know what it could be until I saw you on the screens, Yuri. And when I came to rescue you, I was right. You have a Cosmo Sphere. You can become a Power Ranger.”

“Hey, I have one of these Cosmo thingies too.”, Jiro complained. “So how come I can’t become a Power Ranger?”

“‘Power Ranger’.”, Yuri repeated, before having a realisation. “They were practically everywhere on Earth. Where were they when these Gingaku guys conquered the universe?”

“Everything happened so fast.”, Mila answered him. “None of the universe’s Ranger teams could unite in time to prevent total planetary takeover of their worlds. Some tried to fight, but ended up being captured and taken to the Gingaku brainworld. Since no-one but the elite of the elite know where that is, no-one’s been able to stage a rescue.” She then turned to Jiro. “As for your question, I don’t quite know myself. You’ll have to come with us so we can figure it out.”

“Why not?, anywhere’s better than this dump.”, Jiro replied. “So where’s your ship?”

“We don’t have one…yet.”, Mila replied. “For now, we’re waiting for the right time to attack and hijack one. Now, let’s get out of here before Metaro sends more goons after us.” She began climbing out of the pit, followed by Yuri and Jiro, the former of whom was having more flashes of memory. Namely of a shuttle being attacked by Gingaku’s Dark Gears and someone crying out for help.

* * *

** Gingaku’s Temple, Unknown Planet **

Gingaku and Dark Soul had witnessed the entire abortive execution attempt from afar. “So not only did we fail to put Yuri to death, but he has joined up with a new team of Power Rangers.”, Dark Soul growled. “Disappointing.”

“Not quite.”, Gingaku countered. “These Rangers have access to massive amounts of Cosmic Energy. Enough to completely restore a life. I must have that power for myself.” He then laughed evilly, knowing that the Rangers would be the target for all units in the future.


	2. The End of the Universe, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following his escape from execution, Yuri and his new allies find themselves on the most wanted list. And why does Jiro’s Cosmo Sphere not respond to him? The answer revealed.

“ _Attentions citizens of Psyga-5. A few hours ago, the Earthman known as Yuri defied the grand order and escaped from his execution, in addition to stealing the rare Sirian that was tasked with carrying out the execution. We have ascertained that Yuri also has a female accomplice known as Mila, species currently Unidentified. We also have reason to believe that they have also stolen a server-droid under my employ and intend to make their escape from this planet. As such, a reward of 50000000 Ginlars and total work-force exemption to anyone who can assist in their capture.”_

* * *

From an abandoned skyscraper within the city limits, Yuri and his rescue party observed this broadcast as it happened. “Looks like we really annoyed Old Metaro.”, Yuri noted. “They weren’t even offering one thousandth of that for the last offender they were after.”

“So much for an easy route off this planet.”, Slash huffed, kicking the stolen R-283. “We might as well have just scrapped his thing there and then.”

“For what it’s worth, I probably wouldn’t have helped you anyway.”, R-283 replied. “I am programmed only to obey orders from Gingaku superiors, not you anti-Gingaku rebels.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.”, Yuri interrupted. “Aside from the fact you’re obviously anti-Gingaku, I don’t know anything about you guys. Who are you?”

Mila sighed. “I knew we’d get to this point sooner or later. As you said, we’re a movement fighting to restore the freedom that was taken from the universe by Gingaku.”

“That’s ridiculous.”, R-283 stated. “You are allowed whatever freedoms you desire, provided that you stay in line and follow orders.”

“Of course you’d say that.”, Tarrant exclaimed. “Because you’re just a machine.”

“So are you.”, the other robot pointed out.

“But I’m not one to follow orders, unlike you, Miss Slave-To-Her-Programming. Nobody gives me instructions. None that I’ll listen to.”

“He’s right.”, Slash added. “Tarrant is notoriously stubborn. One of the drawbacks of your one robot having a fully developed artificial intelligence.”

“If you’re finished measuring your IQs.”, Mila said, annoyed at being interrupted. “Anyway, all of us were chosen by the Cosmo Spheres to become a new generation of Power Rangers. For everyone’s freedom, we stand against Gingaku.”

It was then that Jiro stepped forward. “Now that’s reminding me of something. How come I got a Cosmo Sphere, but it ain’t doing anything for me?”

“I talked with my contact on that one.”, Mila answered. “Apparently, you have to have a brave heart to be able to use that power. You don’t seem to have one. Have you suffered any debilitating psychological conditions in the past?”

Jiro thought about it. “Now that you mention it, I did see my whole planet get wrecked by the Troobian Empire a long time ago. I was pretty young when that happened. I don’t even know if there are other survivors.”

“Great, so the little pup’s a wimp because his parents were put down. Just great.”, Slash remarked.

At this, Jiro burst into tears. “That was uncalled for.”, Yuri yelled at Slash. He then turned to Mila. “Do you have a superior I can report that guy to? Or is this your whole operation?”

“As a matter of fact, Commander Drago is the one who brought us together and gave us our mission.”, Mila said in response. “But he’s locked up on the planet Matoine, by this robot’s superiors.”

R-283 seemed to take offence. “Gingaku no longer controls the planet Matoine. The acting dictator Baja was overthrown by a pair of mysterious warriors, very similar to you Rangers.”

Everyone was shocked to hear this. “You mean, there could be other Rangers on Matoine?”, Tarrant asked.

“It’s possible.”, Mila replied. “Drago always said that there were twelve Cosmo Spheres capable of creating their own Power Rangers, among potentially hundreds with their own much weaker abilities. It’s possible that the two on that planet discovered two of the major ones.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”, Yuri asked. “We’ve got the robot, and we’ve got a bargaining chip. She helps us get to Matoine, we take those two away with us and Gingaku gets an opportunity to take that planet back.” He then went over to Mila and whispered in her ear.

“That’s a good idea, Yuri.”, Mila said, signalling Tarrant, Slash and Jiro. “So what do you say, R-283? Do we have an agreement?”

The droid thought it over for a few seconds, then decided. “Agreement accepted. I will take you to a ship port. Follow me exactly, if you wish to avoid detection.” She stood up and walked out.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for?”, Slash asked. “Let’s follow her.”

Everyone proceeded to do just that, with Yuri stopping to put his hand on Jiro’s shoulder. “Don’t let the past define who you are. Let what you want the future to be decide that.” With that, the two walked out.

* * *

Onboard his Command Ship, a more mobile version of the Dark Gear, Metaro spoke with a hologram of Gingaku. “My Lord, I beg you-”, Metaro began.

But he was blasted back by Gingaku’s willpower. “ _You haven’t failed me. Not yet. I want the Rangers’ source of Cosmic Energy for myself._ ” With that said, he switched off on his end.

Multiple Detainers came to Metaro’s aid, but he knocked them back. “I don’t need your help. All I need is a fair advantage against them.” Then he thought for a minute. “Can we track the signal of the droid they stole?”

“Yes we can.”, a Commanaga replied. “But why?”

“Because that droid has a wider range teleportation system installed.”, was the answer. “Teleport them to the Gaku Zone.”

“Yes sir.”, the Commanaga dispatched a Detainer to go over to the console and flick a switch.

* * *

Back in the city, the 4 Rangers and Jiro were still following a stealth route to the spaceport, directed by their robot guide. “How much farther?”, an impatient Slash asked. “I’d prefer to be out of the city as soon as possible.”

“Not far.”, R-283 replied. “We are but a few parsecs from -”. Before she could finish, she felt herself glowing with energy, which enveloped the others. When the light cleared, the 6 found themselves on a beach. “We appear to have been displaced from our location significantly.”

“I’ll say.”, Yuri commented. “Are we even on the same planet anymore?”

“That warp wasn’t powerful enough to displace us further than orbit”, Tarrant answered him. “But how did we get here?”

“I’ll answer that.” Everyone turned around to see a Commanaga surrounded by various civilians. “That robot you so helpfully stole has a recall device which allows us to relocate everyone within a foot of her to a different location. You got moved into Psyga-6’s Gaku Zone.”

“Oh dear.”, R-283 stated. “In the Gaku Zone, Gingaku’s Power within his minions is amplified tenfold. Victory against them is unlikely in these conditions.”

“Conditions are made to be broken.”, Yuri said. “Let’s just see how these guys handle 4 Cosmo Spheres working together.” He pulled the Lion-01 Sphere out of his pocket. “You guys ready?”

Mila, Tarrant and Slash nodded, pulling out the Chameleon-07, Bull-05 and Swordfish-09 Cosmo Spheres. “It’s Morphin’ Time!”, the three said in unison. Then all 4 summoned their Cosmo Morphers and inserted their Spheres into them. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” All 4 pushed their Spheres forward, causing stars to be fired from the nozzles, that redirected to their shooters, transforming them into Power Rangers.

“You go guys.”, Jiro said.

“Looks like he’s still not over his cowardice.”, Yuri noted sadly.

The Commanaga was unimpressed. “Big deal, you’re not the only one with backup.” Not only did a ship emerge from space, but Detainer helmets were dropped on the hostages, turning them into Detainers. “Attack.”

Yuri summoned the three components of his Cosmo Weapon and assembled them. “Cosmo Saber!” He ran forward and began slashing at the Detainers and the Commanaga, blowing the artificial lifeform up. He then continued slashing through the others. “Well that guy was insultingly easy.”

“Don’t get cocky, rookie.”, Mila shouted as she also fought off Detainers with her Cosmo Blade.

“They usually have a little trick up their sleeve in these situations.”, Slash stated, as he took care of more grunts with his Cosmo Dagger’s powered up mode. “That’s how it’s done.”

“Cosmo Axe!”, Tarrant called out, as he used his own weapon’s powered up mode to take out more grunts.

Yuri came face-to-face with two Commanagas. “Two against one, I still like my odds.” As he said this, a tidal wave came by and swept the two goons into the sea. “Alright, lucky.”, he said, before inserting his Cosmo Sphere onto his Cosmo Saber. “Let’s finish this now.” He unleashed a fiery slash that destroyed the two of them.

It was then that the ships began to attack in full force. “We need to get up there and cut them off.”, Slash stated.

“Way ahead of you.”, Mila replied. The two pushed their Cosmo Spheres in their Morphers to the left. Astral projections of their constellations appeared as they fired at the ground. They were surrounded by giant versions of their Cosmo Spheres, which attached onto ships based on a chameleon and a swordfish. The two then flew up and attacked the enemy ships. “Tonge Attack!”, Mila declared, having her Zord shoot out a prehensile tongue that destroyed a ship with its grip.

Slash then flew around in his Zord, destroying many enemy bogies on impact. “Damn, I’m good.”, Slash commented. Then the two flew off into space.

“I should help them.”, Yuri said. Then a Gingaku fighter shot at him, causing him to push his Sphere in Morpher to the left. This summoned a giant Cosmo Sphere, that protected him from attacks. “This is cool.” Then the sphere took off. On another planet, a large, lion-like ship emerged from a volcano. It flew through space and combined with the giant Cosmo Sphere. “I guess this big guy is mine.”, Yuri said as he saw it coming. “Though it does seem familiar.”, he said as the Sphere docked.

Mila and Slash noted this from their own Zords. “Woah, that’s a big Zord.”, Mila noted. Then the Lion fired missiles from one of its paws, blowing up the fighters.

* * *

Down on the planet’s surface. Tarrant was still facing a large army of Detainers. “I could use a little help here.”, he said as they began to overwhelm him.

Jiro watched on from the side, remembering Yuri’s words. “ _Don’t let the past define who you are. Let what you want the future to be decide that._ ” “Yuri’s right.”, Jiro said. “I’m not afraid of the past anymore. I just need to believe in the future.” As if on cue, his Cosmo Sphere began to glow and a Morpher appeared on his arm. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He slid his Sphere into position, inserted it into the Morpher and pushed forward. He was turned into his own Ranger form, which was blue and covered in fur. “Let’s dance, losers.”, he exclaimed as he began attacking the grunts.

“Thanks for the help, Jiro.”, Tarrant said. “Now let’s do this.” And so the fight resumed, with Jiro knocking a good number of Detainers down and Tarrant defeating them with his Cosmo Axe. Then the two summoned their own Zords, a wolf for Jiro and a bull for Tarrant, and took off.

* * *

Out in space, Yuri continued his fight with the fleet. “Lion Star Beam!” The Zord fired a laser that blew up several ships and set others into free fall. Then Yuri knocked the Cosmo Sphere to the right twice. “Zords, combine.”

The Lion rotated its claws and revealed two slots, into which Mila and Slash’s Zords fell into. Then the Lion’s head turned around, with the jaw dropping to reveal a faceplate. “How did you know they could do this?”, Mila asked Yuri. “Even I didn’t know about this.”

“Call it a hunch.”, Yuri responded. “Now let’s go for the mothership.” The half-completed combination flew at the ship, buffeting it.

* * *

Inside, Metaro felt the attack from his control room. “Somebody stop them.”, he commanded.

* * *

On the ship’s hull, a Commanaga enlarged,to twice the size of the combined Zords. “That’s what we were talking about when we mentioned the trick up their sleeves.”, Slash stated. The combination engaged the giant enemy, only to be knocked out of control.

As if on cue, the other two Rangers in their Zords flew up and connected into the Lion’s rear ports. “That was convenient.”, Yuri noted. “Let’s call this thing, the Cosmic Megazord.”

Then a projection of Jiro appeared on his relay. “I finally took your words to heart, Yuri. Let’s beat these guys.”

“I knew you had it in you.”, Yuri responded. “Now let’s defeat this guy.”

And so the newly completed Megazord engaged the Commanaga in battle, using Slash’s arm as a sword to deal repeated slashes, Tarrant’s leg to move at high speed and Jiro’s leg to deliver a powerful kick. “Now let’s finish this off.”, Yuri said. Everyone pushed their Spheres back twice. “Cosmo Megazord Star Slash! Final Attack!” The Megazord glowed with the lights of all 5 Rangers and fired a beam at the Commanaga, blowing him up. “This Space is ours.”, Yuri stated as the others nodded in agreement.

“Now let’s lug this thing to Matoine.”, Mila stated. “Commander Drago is waiting.”

* * *

On the planet beneath them, R-283 observed the Megazord as it took off. “So they were able to take out Gingaku soldiers even in a Gaku Zone. These Rangers truly are intriguing. I should follow and study them.”, she noted.

* * *

On Gingaku’s brainworld, Dark Soul was contacted by Metaro. “ _Tell my Lord I am truly sorry for my failure_.”

“An apology won’t cover it.”, Dark Soul informed him. “Gingaku has instructed me to tell you that you have been stripped of your position as ruler of the Archer Nebula and cast out from the Clan. This will teach others not to fail, as you did.”

Metaro was shocked to hear this. “ _No, let me have a second chance. I swear that I will recover the Cosmic Energy source from the Rangers.”_

“There are no second chances in Gingaku.”, Dark Soul responded, switching off the transmission. “While someone else will replace you in ruling that system, you will still be acknowledged. After all, you’ve given me the first step I need to take my revenge.”

* * *

On the planet Matoine, two figures watched the sky. “Did you feel that buddy?”, one of them said. “Like something big is about to happen.”

“Indeed.”, the other one said in response. “And it’s coming in our direction. I don’t like it.”

* * *

On an abandoned planet in the depths of space, a cloaked figure looked up at the sky. “So it seems that the Anti-Gingaku movement is beginning to grow in strength.” He looked down at a Cosmo Sphere in his hand. “Soon, the universe won’t have to deal with the current regime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 1 of Kyuranger.
> 
> The Gaku Zone is a homage to the Makuu Zone from Space Cop Gavan.


	3. The Bizarre Bazaar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers travel to Matoine to both rescue Mila’s mentor and recruit two new Rangers. However, they have been followed not just be a vengeful Metaro, but someone else.

**Planet Matoine, Uncategorised Space.**

A Commanaga led a group of Detainers through an alleyway. “Alright men. General Baja wants this planet back at any cost. Let nothing stand in the way of taking back this planet.”

“I guess that makes us nothing.” Before the Commanaga could react, he was shot at by a pair of suited figures, one in gold with a “weighing scales” motif and one in silver with a snake motif. “Seems like a low opinion to hold of Matoine’s defenders.”, the silver one continued.

“Well, well. Cobras and Scales. The two main targets on our list.”, the Commanaga replied. “I’m going to have fun taking you two out.”

“You’re welcome to try.”, Cobras, the one in silver, said in response. And thus, he and his golden-clad partner Scales engaged the enemy group in battle, overwhelming them easily. Then the two aimed their Cosmo Morphers at the Commanaga, pulling back on their Cosmo Spheres twice. “Time to finish this.” The two fired colour coded beams at the enemy grunt, blowing him up. Then the two reverted to their natural appearances. Cobras was a humanoid with slightly pale skin, while Scales was a golden robot with blue stripes, a silver shoulder and “earrings”. “They’re definitely getting bolder, Scales. This is the 4th attack this week.”

“Relax, don’t sweat it. That is, if you even can sweat.”, Scales assured his partner. “As long as the team of Scales and Cobras are here, and we’ve got these globes, Matoine isn’t going to be falling to Gingaku anytime soon.”

“Perhaps, but we’re just two people.” Cobras looked at his Cosmo Sphere longingly. It was silver, with a snake pattern and numbered “06”. “We can’t hold out against Baja forever. Not unless we get help.”

* * *

**Planetary Orbit, Uncategorised Space.**

In his ship, Baja, a repulsive pink-coloured lizard-like creature, was fuming. “This planet should be mine once more by now. How is it that none of my warriors are capable of defeating a Raynaga and an Android?”

“Maybe because they’re not just an ordinary Raynaga and Android.” Baja turned around to see Metaro, the recently dismissed ruler of the Archer Nebula walking in. “They have the power of the Cosmos itself on their side, harnessed through their Cosmo Spheres. They can become Power Rangers, like the ones that humiliated me in my system.”

“You mean, your ‘former’ system.”, Baja corrected. “Even out here, we’ve heard of your fall from grace.”

Metaro fumed. “It’s true I may have lost my title. But I’m not angry at losing it. If anything, it’s given me time to devote my body and soul to defeating the Rangers. I know they’re coming to this planet to rescue their worthless commander.”

“So you want me to help you deal with both of our problems simultaneously.”, Baja summarised. He then laughed. “I like the cut of your jib. Now, what do you intend to do?”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d carry out the plan.”, Metaro responded. “We need to wait for the Rangers to come to us.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld, Unknown Location. **

Dark Soul was speaking with a shadowy figure. “Metaro may be no longer part of the Clan, but he’s still trying to use our resources to take his revenge.”, he explained.

“And what do you intend to do to stop him?”, the mysterious figure asked.

Dark Soul stepped over to a store cupboard nearby. “We simply need to get someone to do the job before him.” He opened the cupboard to reveal the burnt out corpse of a Commanaga. “I want you to rebuild and modify this one. Can you do it?”

The other one laughed. “My dear fellow, I am the greatest mind in all of Gingaku, nay, the universe. This creature will be modified into the perfect soldier soon enough.”

“I just hope it won’t be too late.”, Dark Soul wondered. “Who knows how far Metaro has gotten in his plan.”

* * *

** Planetary orbit of Matoine, Uncategorised Space. **

The Rangers were flying closer to the planet in their Megazord. “Alright, so run the plan by me one more time.”, Yuri radioed to Mila. “Just so we’re clear.”

“The plan isn’t that hard to remember.”, Mila radioed back. “We go down there, meet the other two Rangers, get them to help us, free Commander Drago from prison and then depart for our next location.”

“That sounds simple.”, Tarrant commented. “As long as it doesn’t encounter a hitch.”

It was at that point a fleet of Gingaku fighters appeared from warp and fired on the Megazord. “You just has to say it, didn’t you Tarrant?”, Slash snarked. The fighters hit the Megazord and knocked the Chameleon, Bull and Wolf Zords off the formation and towards another part of the planet. “Yuri, we’re the only ones left and we need to make sure we can at least stay together.”

“Then there’s only one chance.”, Yuri responded. “Disengage!” The two Zords separated and then began shooting at the fighters, taking out a good number of them in the process. “Alright, we’ve reduced their numbers. Now let’s make our way to the target point.” The two ships continued on their way.

From his command ship, Baja watched the events unfold. “Curses. They managed to escape our attack and make their way to the planet.”

“No, this was part of my plan.”, Metaro insisted as he walked forward. “Now, we put phase two into operation. You go to the planet and defeat the Rangers.”

Baja was outraged by this. “You expect a mighty noble of Gingaku to do the work of Detainers?”

Metaro brandished his weapon. “I repeat, you go down to the planet and defeat the Rangers.”, he said in a more threatening tone.

Baja became distressed to see this. “As I was saying, it’s a perfect day for me to go into the field myself. That ought to please the troops.”

* * *

** Planet Matoine **

In a remote part of the city, the Lion and Swordfish Zords landed, vanishing into their Cosmo Spheres as Yuri and Slash demorphed for the first time since taking off from Psyga-6. “Man, it feels good to be able to breath again.”, Yuri said, stretching his arms. “How do you guys cope in those suits?”

“We don’t normally take them on long distance flights across space.”, Slash replied. “No offence to your discovery of the combine setting, but let’s stick to regular freighters for future space jaunts.”

“I believe you were supposed to come here on such a freighter.” Both turned around to see the familiar figure of R-283. “In fact, you were supposed to bring me to this planet.”

“That was a trick.”, Yuri informed her. “We were just planning to use you to get offworld.”

“I calculated that.”, the Android replied. “That is not why I have travelled here. I am here to observe you and the other members of the team.”

Slash was surprised by this. “Us? What makes us so interesting as to warrant observation.”

“You were able to overcome the power dampening effects of the Gaku Zone. That is intriguing enough to warrant further investigation.” But before R-283 could begin an interrogation, the three found themselves being shot at by someone.

It was Cobras, wielding his Cosmo Morpher. “So this time they’ve sent a secretary and a pair of plainclothes. Gingaku must really be keen to take this planet back.” He took out his Cosmo Sphere and slid it into formation.

Yuri panicked. “Wait a minute, man. We’re not Gingaku, we’re the same as you.” He pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and nudged Slash to do the same. “See, we’ve also got these.”

Cobras immediately cooled down. “So you also received the mysterious spheres, just as me and my partner did. Where did you come by them?”

“I woke up with mine next to me.”, Yuri answered. “I wasn’t able to tap into it until last night, when a Commanaga was threatening my life.”

Slash then offered his explanation. “It’s not a particularly long or interesting story. My restaurant got trashed, one second I wanted to do something about it, the next this thing was in my pocket. What about you, what’s the origin of your Cosmo Sphere?”

“Ah, so that is what this is called. A Cosmo Sphere. I came into it shortly after I saw my whole planet destroyed for defying Gingaku. My friend and I tried to escape, but could only find a ship with room for one. I tried sending him on his way, but he pushed me inside and launched, just before the planet’s destruction. As I saw it unfold, I swore that I would honour his sacrifice to my last breath, by removing Gingaku from the universe. It was then that this Cosmo Sphere appeared to me, as if acknowledging my desire for justice.”

R-283 was intrigued by this. “It appears that those chosen to become Power Rangers by the Cosmo Spheres seem to possess some desire to fight against Gingaku’s rule. Highly fascinating.”

“Not really.”, Yuri told her. “A lot of people throughout the universe hate Gingaku. They took away the freedom of every civilised planet in the universe and basically rely on medieval methods to keep their powers. A lot of people would be glad to see them go, but few have the courage or the conviction to do it.” Then he caught on to something Slash had mentioned. “Did you say you used to have a restaurant?”

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”, was Slash’s answer. “Now then, you’re obviously on our side, Mr -?”

“You may call me Cobras.”, Cobras answered. “I hail from what is known as the Snake Nebula.”

“-Mr. Cobras. My friend Yuri and I are looking for some friends of ours that crashed somewhere on this planet. Could you help us find them?”

Cobras nodded. “My partner saw more ships like yours coming down. He’s off investigating now. Why don’t you regale me with tales of your travels?”

The three men left, leaving behind a confused R-283. “People… hate Gingaku?”, she asked no-one in particular.

* * *

In another part of the city, Mila had found Tarrant and Jiro. “How did we not expect an attack in orbit?”, she asked. “We ended up losing two of our number and we have no idea if they survived or not.”

“They pulled out alright, I know it.”, Jiro exclaimed. “Yuri’s too stubborn to let a few fighters get the better of him.”

“So is Slash.”, Tarrant nodded. “If anything, the main question is where on this planet they managed to land.”

“I think I might know where.” Everyone turned to the source of the voice, a golden robot. “My partner told me to be on the lookout for some guys like you. He found your friends at the sight of their landing.” He then held up his Cosmo Sphere. “I assume you all have one of these.”

“We do.”, Mila nodded nervously, as she presented hers. Tarrant and Jiro proceeded to do likewise. “From what I’ve heard, yours appears to be the Balance-04 Sphere, Mr -?”

“Call me Scales, everyone does.”, Scales replied. “So, what brings people like you to our neck of the woods, or the universe as it were?”

“Our boss is locked up in a jail on this planet.”, Tarrant informed him. “We were hoping you guys might be able to help us release him.”

Before Scales could respond, they were interrupted by another voice. “Too bad that you won’t get the opportunity to release him.” Everyone turned around to see Baja approaching. “Especially since I’m going to stop you here and now.”

“Just what we need. Another Gingaku thug stopping us.”, Jiro fumed. “Let’s beat the tar out of this guy.”

“Baja here’s been giving us trouble since Cobras and I forced him off the planet.”, Scales commented. “I’m all for beating the metaphorical tar out of him.”

The 4 then slid their Cosmo Spheres into position, summoning their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They inserted the Spheres into the Morphers, pushed them forward and fired the trigger. This shot a series of beams that surrounded them and turned them into their Ranger forms.

Baja was unimpressed. “I’ll just summon a little help.” He threw a series of Detainer helmets into the air, which landed on the heads of nearby civilians. “Detainers attack!”

As the Rangers engaged Baja and the Detainers, Mila was concerned. “The longer we spend fighting these guys, the longer Commander Drago suffers in whatever hellhole he’s in.”

* * *

As it happened, Commander Drago was currently regaling his cell mate with tales of his adventures. “And then I stared the beast in the face, my sword in hand. I declared ‘you will not get past me, demon.’ And then, he lunged.”

The cell mate was excited. “Did you make it out? No wait, don’t tell me. Just carry on.”

Drago nodded obligingly. “I leapt out of the way, and then -.” He was interrupted by the cell door opening. “What’s happening, am I getting out?”

“Indeed you are.” Drago turned to see a Gingaku Secretary Droid standing outside. “Your soldiers have come to release you from your confinement.”

“Ah, I assume they sent you to get me out then?”, Drago guessed.

“No, I am here of my own accord to release you as a gesture of goodwill. You see, until recently I served Gingaku unquestionably. But thanks to your disciples, I have begun to learn the true meaning of freedom. I think that my first step will to be release you for them.”

Drago seemed intrigued by this. “I suppose if you took me back to the Rangers, then I could help you learn the true meaning of freedom, Miss -?”

“My current designation is R-283.”, the robot concluded for him. “However, I am open for a change of designation.”

Drago thought about it. “Since your model comes from the Eagle Galaxy, I suppose I could call you ‘Winda’.” He then turned towards his cell mate “Sorry my friend, but it looks like we won’t get the chance to finish that story.”

The cell mate cried. “It’s okay, man. I knew that if one of us was getting out of this pit, it’d be you. I just didn’t think it would happen for another month. Just promise you’ll write.”

But the Android wasn’t listening to the heartfelt goodbye. “New designation accepted. ‘Winda’.”

“Goodbye for now.”, Drago finished saying to his fellow prisoner. “Now then Winda, let’s go.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri received a message from Mila. “Just want to say, we’ve found one of the two new recruits.”, he said to her.

“So have we, but that’s not important now.”, Mila replied, as she used her invisibility to dodge an attack and fight back. “But we’ve run into a Gingaku big shot here. We need backup.”

“On the way.”, Yuri signed off before turning to Cobras and Slash. “Our friends are in trouble and I think Cobras’ partner is with them.”

“I think I can get a lock on Scales’ position.”, Cobras said, pulling out a scanner. “They’re across the city, 3 miles out from us. If we can run fast enough.”

“No time for that.”, Slash said. “You two get in with me.” Yuri and Cobras complied, as Slash activated the summon function by inserting his Cosmo Sphere into his Morpher and sliding it to the left, before pressing a button on the grip. This summoned his Swordfish Zord around the three, which took off towards the location.

* * *

Elsewhere, only Scales still stood against the Detainers, as the others had been knocked down by Baja’s goons. “All I have to do is take you down like your new friends.”, Baja declared. “And then the universe will be ours.”

As he said this, Yuri and Cobras dropped down from above, shooting at them with their Morphers. “You seem to be forgetting us.”, Yuri stated. “And of course, our friend in the air, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Enough poetry”, Cobras stated. “Let us face these Gingaku grunts with the power of our Cosmo Spheres.”

“Okay, then I guess it’s Morphing Time!”, Yuri declared. He and Cobras pulled out their Spheres, inserting them into their Morphers and pushing forward. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They fired their blasts, morphing into their Ranger forms. They stood alongside Scales against the Detainers.

From his balcony, Baja was worried. “Oh no, now I have three more to deal with.”, he stated sarcastically.

Yuri pointed his arm forward. “Three is more than enough to take you down.” The three then shot at the walls, creating a path to outside, which they took. Once outside, they continued engaging in a firefight with the Detainers, making shots while dodging others. Eventually, Yuri went up to Scales and nudged him. “Have you tried using these before?”, he asked the robot as he held up the pieces of his Cosmo Weapon.

“Actually, this is the first I’ve heard of them.”, Scales said as he pulled out his own components. “How do I use it?”

“You do this.”, Yuri said, plugging the pieces to form his Cosmo Saber in one at a time, as Scales copied him. The two then wielded their completed weapons, but only Yuri ran forward.

Scales was having trouble holding the weapon. “This is slightly out of my weight limit.”, he said as he barely knocked down one Detainer with it.

“You don’t have to copy me, try something else.”, Yuri called out as he slashed a few more Detainers.

“Okay.”, Scales removed the blade and placed the “axe” portion onto the barrel of the hilt, creating a rifle. “Now this is more my style.”, he said as he began to take out Detainers as effortlessly as Yuri. “Now this I can work with.”

Cobras had already assembled his components into a scythe. “Indeed, these weapons make this more efficient a task.”, he said as he slashed some of the Detainers.

“If only we’d had these in the past, then old Baja wouldn’t have messed with us.”, Scales commented as he and Cobras finished off the Detainers, before high-fiving each other.

“I’m not going down against you fools.”, Baja declared as he swung his tail at the Rangers, who just barely dodged. “Not until I’ve taken back my planet from you.”

“This was never your planet.”, Cobras declared as he grappled with the Lizard Sector native using his Cosmo Scythe. “You stole the freedom of its people along with the rest of your empire.” He brought it down and knocked Baja out of the way.

“And we’ve been keeping it out of your hands for its people.”, Scales declared as he slid in on his knees and pointed his Cosmo Rifle at Baja’s chest. He fired it, blowing the Gingaku lackey onto his back.

Yuri ran forward to congratulate them. “Good job, guys. Now let’s put this freak down for good.” He led the two in pointing their Morphers at Baja, pulling their Cosmo Spheres back twice. “Begin Final Attack! Cosmic Energy Blast!” The three fired their beams at Baja, blowing him up. “Goodbye.”

Mila and the other Rangers came up to the three. “Good job, you guys. Now we need to find the Commander.”, she said.

But before they could do anything, A symbol on Baja’s body exploded. Baja grew to giant size in a puff of purple smoke. “This isn’t the end of me, you runts.”

“He had a growth implant?”, Mila said incredulously. “He must have been high up.”

Yuri was confused. “What’s a ‘growth implant’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”, Slash told him. “They’re not often used, since it only activates when the implanted dies. We’re gonna need the Megazord.”

“On it.”, Yuri said. The 5 then pushed their Cosmo Spheres to the left, then pressed the button on the handle. The Zords were summoned and then combined into one. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s dance, ugly.”, Yuri declared, moving the Megazord forward to do battle. In the resulting fight, both combatants managed to get some good hits in on each other.

“I’m not going down that easily.”, Baja stated, swinging his tail around again. He demolished two partially-constructed buildings and knocked the Megazord on top of another. “You can’t defeat me with those puny Zords.”

“But maybe we can.”, Cobras stated as he watched the whole thing. “We should be able to summon our own.”

“I like that idea.”, Scales commented. The two then activated their own “summon” function, calling on a pair of ships that turned into robots when their Cosmo Spheres were inserted. The two then did a double diving kick on Baja, knocking him backwards.

“You pests. Take this.”, Baja declared as he swung his tail around. But the robots turned back into their ship modes (Cobras’ resembling a snake and Scales’ resembling a pair of scales) and sliced his tail open. “Ow, that hurt.”

“That’s the least of your pain.”, the two declared.

“Take this.” Baja fired a laser at the two, only for the Megazord to leap in the way and block it.

“Do you guys want to take a turn as part of the combination?”, Mila asked.

“Gladly.”, Cobras answered. He and Scales forced the Swordfish and Chameleon Zords out of the formation, before having their own Zords take their places, giving the Megazord a claw on its right arm and a hammer on its left.

“Cosmo Megazord, Slash’N’Bash Formation! Complete!”

“You think a different pair of arms will save you?”, Baja declared as he fired his laser again.

“Hammer Reflection!”, Scales called out. He moved his arm up and blocked the blasts. The Megazord then moved forward and used its claw to clamp down on Baja’s arm, before releasing and knocking the laser out of his digits.

“Snake Biter!”, Cobras declared. His arm extended and pushed the alien into the air.

“Begin Final Attack! Cosmo Megazord Hammer!” The Balance Zord extended once more, hitting Baja and blowing him to pieces.

“This Space is ours.”, Yuri stated once more.

* * *

Out in orbit, Metaro observed all this from Baja’s ship. “That fool got what he deserved for underestimating the Rangers. But at least he provided me with a ship to get to my next destination. The Red Ranger’s home planet, Earth.” With that said, he turned the ship around and warped away.

* * *

Down on the planet, the Rangers were having a small celebration for their new allies. “Thanks to our efforts, this planet should be safe from Gingaku’s threat for a while.”, Scales stated. “And Cobras and I worked really well with you guys, so is it okay if we tag along with you guys?”

“That’s why we came here in the first place.”, Jiro informed them. “Well that and to get the boss out.”

Mila suddenly gained an alarmed look on her face. “Oh no, I almost forgot. We still have to get Commander Drago out of prison.”

“That’s already been taken care of.” Everyone turned around to see a draconian humanoid in a fur-lined coat carrying a cane with a dragon-shaped head, accompanied by a familiar droid. “Winda here picked up some moral fibre from you apparently, so she decided to let me out as a gesture of goodwill to you.” He took a look at Yuri, Jiro, Scales and Cobras. “I see we’ve got some new recruits in our ranks.”

Tarrant was confused. “So the secretary is on our side now?”

“Inde - Yes.”, Winda answered. “I believe I’m developing the same sentience that you have, Tarrant. I also took the liberty of arranging a ship for us to get to our next target.”

“So, she’s coming with us then?”, asked Jiro.

Slash slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not complaining. We’ve been in need of her type of help for a while.”

“She could help us find the last two Rangers.”, Yuri stated, much to everyone’s confusion. “I mean, come on. Am I the only ones keeping notes on the numbers of the Cosmo Spheres. We have ‘01, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07’ and ‘09’. That means that ‘02’ and ‘08’ are still out there, along with any potentially higher than ‘09’.”

Winda nodded. “I can run a program to search for them as we travel through space.”

“Well that’s settled then.”, Commander Drago stated. “When we take off, we go looking for the final members of this team, then we take the fight to Gingaku himself. All in favour.”

“Aye!”, everyone said, pumping their fists.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld, Unknown System. **

Dark Soul returned to the lab to speak with his contact. He walked passed several vats with a half-grown creature in each, plus a set of robotic exoskeletons. “Is it done?”

“Of course it is, Mr. Dark Soul. I have worked tirelessly to bring you my latest feat of engineering.” The thing that stepped forward looked like a Commanaga, but had added dragon-like elements to his face and shoulders. He also had a different tunic. From a standard Commanaga and a DNA sample from a Dragon Star inhabitant, I give you… Ryudon.”

“I will find and destroy all the Rangers.”, Ryudon declared.

* * *

** Unchartered Planet, Deep Space. **

A figure chipped into rocks until he found a Cosmo Sphere. This one had a Monoceros/Unicorn pattern and was numbered “27”. “That’s another one to add to my collection.”, he noted. “I just need to get these back to the others.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off episode 2 of Kyuranger.
> 
> Baja is an inversion of Jabba, the Star Wars character upon whom the Sentai villain was based.
> 
> I had fun with the idea of having the Commander’s cell mate being an utter scumbag who listens nicely and takes interest in his fellow prisoner’s stories. I really should try and bring him back at some point.


	4. A Stinging Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for the eighth Ranger leads the team to an apparently abandoned planet with a single occupant. An occupant that Tarrant has a history with.

**Unnamed Planet, Unchartered Space.**

The mysterious figure woke up, as the sun rose on this planet. This was his 728th day on the planet, searching for Cosmo Spheres. Everyday, he had woken up to the same scenery of sandy terrain as far as the eye could see. But today, he could see something descending to the planet. Namely, one of Gingaku’s Dark Gears descending towards his location. “Great, just great.”, he said to himself. He pulled out the communicator he had been using to communicate with Mila. “M1 to M2. Come in, M2. Can you here me?”, he said urgently.

After a few seconds of static, Mila’s voice came through on the other end. “ _I’m reading you, M1. What’s so urgent you had to mess up my biological clock?”_

“I’ve got an emergency. I don’t know how, but Gingaku found my planet. I need help.”, M1 urged.

“ _We’ve kind of got our own mission at the moment. We’re looking for the remaining Rangers to complete our team. I’ll see what I can do when we finish that task. Over and out._ ” With that, she hung up.

M1 pulled out his own Cosmo Sphere, coloured orange, bearing a scorpion pattern and numbered “02”. “I suppose if you were going to find out, then this might be the best way.” He then went over to an arranged set of different Cosmo Spheres. “At least I’ll be able to defend myself before you arrive.”

* * *

**Gingaku Brainworld.**

In his ally’s lab, Dark Soul observed a monitor. “It seems that Ryudon has picked up a Ranger’s signal. But the planet he landed on has no indigenous life.”

“Curious.”, his ally commented. “If he’s trying to hide from us, then why choose that nameless, lifeless mudball?”

“Because it wasn’t always lifeless.” The two turned around to see a new figure entering the room. He was dressed in green armour, with cream trousers and a long coat of the former colour, with orange, pincer-like patterns decorating it. He had white skin, with dark green dreadlocks tied up. His face seemed to be frozen in a rictus grin and he wore a red mask over his eyes. When he spoke, the voice seemed like it should belong to him, but it shouldn’t at the same time. “In the past, the planet was home to a race of sages. They were the ones who created the Cosmo Spheres from which the Rangers draw their power, along with several others that were created to boost those powers. Though they died in unknown circumstances, they left behind several of these ‘support’ Spheres scattered. The Ranger on that planet is looking for them.”

“And how would you know so much about these matters? Or this Ranger’s motivation.”, asked the unseen figure.

“Let’s just say that he and I have a history.”, the newcomer answered. “And during our lengthy time together, he had some theories about that planet. It would make sense for him to act upon them.”

“Whatever his reason for being there, Ryudon and his forces will take care of him.”, Dark Soul noted. “By the way, who are you?”

The figure merely turned around. “You can call me ‘Spectrum’.”

* * *

**Deep Space.**

Onboard their occupied ship, the Rangers had gathered for a meeting. “Everyone, Yuri and Winda have some good news for us.”, Commander Drago announced.

“This’d better be good.”, Jiro commented. “Some of us have sleep to catch up on.”

Slash slapped his head. “I think that this should probably be a bigger priority than sleeping. Go ahead.”

“Certainly.”, Winda nodded. “Thanks to the energy signature provided by scanning everyone’s Cosmo Spheres, I have detected a massive quantity of the same energy on a planetoid in unchartered space.”

“And luckily for us, it’s uninhabited.”, Yuri continued. “So if we can find the Sphere, it’s just a matter of finding its partner.”

“So that is settled then.”, Cobras stated. “Our next port of call shall be this planetoid, in search of the next Cosmo Sphere.”

“I bet it’s a powerful one.”, Scales said excitedly. “I mean, why else would we be getting a signature that big?”

* * *

** Planet’s surface. **

Some time later, the Rangers’ stolen ship landed on the planet, with Scales, Winda and Drago staying behind to work on the ship. The others set off and immediately saw the Dark Gear in the distance. “It seems we’re not the only ones who found the signal on this planet.”, Mila noted. “We need to be on alert.”

“Right.”, Yuri nodded. “Where Gingaku goes, trouble tends to follow.”

* * *

** Inside the Dark Gear. **

Ryudon was called over to a console by a Commanaga on duty. “The other Rangers have landed on this planet as well. They may be here to help out their comrade.”, he reported.

Ryudon was angry. He still remembered his humiliating defeat at the hands of the Red and Green Rangers on Psyga-6. They had injured him enough to leave him temporarily dead, until Dark Soul had recovered and repaired him into a hybrid freak. “We can’t let them unite with the other one. Send out the Detainers!”

* * *

Out in the wilderness, the Rangers were suddenly surrounded by Detainers. “We seem to have attracted their attention.”, Cobras noted.

“Then let’s make them wish they left us alone.”, Yuri responded.

The Rangers then proceeded to engage the Detainers, managing to take them out without having to morph. Tarrant in particular pushed them back without a fight. Soon, all of the enemy grunts were on the ground, with their unconscious forms being teleported away. As the Rangers were collectively breathing sighs of relief, a new figure appeared, clapping sincerely.

“Well, it seems that the rumours of the new Power Rangers’ skills were not exaggerated.”, he said. “Nice to finally see you in person, M2.”, he said that to Mila in particular.

Mila was confused for a moment, but then realised. “You’re M1?”

“Actually, my name’s Myron. But yes, I am your friend.”, the man responded. “In fact, I’m also the reason you’re here.”

But before Myron could continue, Tarrant got a clear look at him. “You!”, he said angrily. “I’m going to get you back for what you did.”

“Tarrant, you’re making no sense.”, Slash stated. “And that’s saying something, since your statements aren’t that smart to begin with.”

But Tarrant ignored him, morphing into the Black Ranger and charging at Myron, who narrowly dodged. “Okay then, someone’s in a mood.”, Myron commented. He then pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and slid it into position. “Looks like I’m going to have to calm you down.” His Morpher materialised on his wrist and he placed his Sphere into it. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” With a short, he was transformed into an Orange Ranger, with a scorpion motif.

Mila was shocked. “No way, you’re our new member?”

“Not when I’m done with him.”, Tarrant said as he swung his Cosmo Axe. “This is for Dr. Cerebron.”

Fortunately for Myron, he was able to narrowly dodge the impact. “Oh, so that’s what this is about.” He pulled out a second Cosmo Sphere, numbered “27” and bearing a unicorn motif. “I don’t have the time to explain everything while you’re trying to kill me. So I’ll just have to settle for incapacitating you for a while.” He inserted the Sphere into his Cosmo Morpher.

“No way!”, Jiro declared. “He has more than one Cosmo Sphere?”

“Unicorn-27 Cosmo Sphere, Plus Up!”, Myron stated. He pushed the sphere backwards, causing a long, horn like object to manifest on his right arm. “Double Sting Form, ready!” He then summoned a scorpion-like tail from his back, sending both at Tarrant. The impact knocked the robot down, reverting him to normal, but leaving him with heavy damage.

Slash seemed angry at this. “Alright buddy, what’s the big idea? You claim to be on our side, but then you attack one of us?”

“He started it.”, Myron pointed out. “And I can’t have you guys following me until I’m ready for you.” He pulled out a Cosmo Sphere numbered “25” and inserted it into his Morpher. “Double-25 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He split into two identical copies of himself. One pulled out a Cosmo Sphere numbered “62”, while the other used one numbered “68”. The first summoned a motorcycle and took off, while the other bounced off into the distance.

“Alright, let’s split up and go after them.”, Yuri suggested. “I’ll take the one playing Kneivel while you go after Spring-heeled Myron.” None of the others looked at him with anything other than confusion. “Look, I’ll take the biker, you take the jumper. Let’s go!”

* * *

From the Dark Gear, Ryudon observed the events. “Something’s not right. Why would the Rangers fight each other?”

“Perhaps it might have something to do with the new one’s background.”, his Commanaga underling suggested. “I’ll send an image of him to the head brass on Gingaku.” He looked up to see his superior walking off. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m going to find this new guy.”, Ryudon answered. “He could be a valuable ally.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Mila’s group had found the Myron clone they were chasing. “There you are.”, Mila called out. “You can’t escape us.”

“Your friend maybe.”, Myron stated. “But you’ve been barking up the wrong tree.” With that said, he dissolved into nothing.

* * *

Elsewhere, the real Myron had retreated to his lair. “That could’ve gone better.”, he said to himself. “I suppose I’ll have to use my findings as a peace offering next time.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” Myron turned around to see that Yuri had managed to find him. “Don’t worry about me. I know that Tarrant attacked you first. I just want to know why.”

Myron sighed. “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.” He then sat down on a rock. “I was the assistant that helped create him a few years ago.”

“Ah, so he has some daddy issues.”

“No.”, Myron stated. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. I was the one who destroyed the lab, with Tarrant’s creator, Doctor Cerebron, inside. I figured that Gingaku would be on my case after that, so I came here and left a communicator so that I could stay in contact with someone else.”

Yuri was surprised to hear this. “You mean you just came out here, with no-one to keep you company?”

“Tarrant’s not the only one with issues.”, Myron said in response. “When I found my Cosmo Sphere, my brother Heath was with me, helping to navigate the traps set to keep it safe. But there was one trap neither of us saw coming. An airborne attack. My brother knocked me out of the way, where I picked up the Cosmo Sphere and got teleported out. He wasn’t so lucky. It was then that Gingaku launched their invasion. I was too scared of what I had seen to act. Since then, I’ve had issues letting anyone in.”

“That’s not true.”, Yuri put his hand on Myron’s shoulder. “It takes a lot of guts for a guy to spill his life story to a complete stranger, even more so for someone as closed off as you claim to be. I think you just needed to sit down and talk about it.”

Before Myron could say anything else, they were rocked by an explosion from outside. “We’ve found your location, Orange Ranger.”, Ryudon’s voice echoed. “Come out so we can talk.”

Myron was mildly annoyed. “Oh we’ll talk alright.” He pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and summoned his Morpher. “Will you help me? I don’t even know your name. Mila never said it.”

“It’s Yuri, and yes.”, came the response. “It’s Morphing Time.”, he said as he prepared in the same way as Myron.

The two then put their Spheres into their Morphers, declared “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They then fired, creating beams of energy that surrounded and transformed into their Ranger forms. They then assembled their Cosmo Weapons, with Yuri going for his usual Saber, while Myron attached the blade and folded out the secondary handle. The two then stood outside.

Ryudon was annoyed to see the two doing this. So you’re working together now? No matter, we’ll still destroy you both.” His squad of Detainers and two Commanagas ran forward.

Yuri was their main target, with everyone going after him. He made an effort to fight back, slashing several of them back. “You could help out, Myron.”, he called out.

“I’m finally going to get my revenge for Psyga-6.”, Ryudon gloated. Then Myron’s weapon flew through the air, landing near the modified Commanaga.

“You may look different, but you’re still just a rank and file grunt.”, Myron said tauntingly. He then ran towards the opponent, engaging him in hand to-hand. He eventually located and picked up his weapon, using it to counter Ryudon’s and strike back.

Yuri continued fighting the grunts, taking a few of them out. “Luckily this planet is uninhabited, or this would be harder.”

“Then let’s make it easier for us.”, Myron threw one of his collected Cosmo Spheres at Yuri. “Try this one out.”

Yuri looked at it and saw it was the same one he had seen Myron use earlier. “Alright, this could be good.” He then inserted it into his Morpher, pulling it back as he had seen Myron do earlier. “Double-25 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He fired a blast at a Detainer, which stayed in the air and reformed into a second Yuri. The two then saw each other and then put their arms around each others’ shoulder. “Alright.”, the two exclaimed.

The two Yuri’s then continued fighting the grunts, while Myron continued to fight Ryudon. “Enough of this.”, Myron stated as he fired shots at the Gingaku squadron, knocking some of them back.

Ryudon ran over to the fallen Commanagas, the last survivors of that attack. “Stand up you fools. The three of us can take three of them.” They stood up and sure enough, they were faced with two Yuris and Myron.

“Let’s end this here, right Myron?”, the two Reds asked.

“One at a time.”, Myron replied sarcastically.

The two Commanagas ran at the two Reds, only to meet with two Cosmo Sabers, which soon had the Cosmo Spheres plugged in. “Double Cosmic Energy Slash!” The two Yuris slashed the Commanagas again, destroying them.

“Now it’s my turn.”, Myron stated as he placed his Cosmo Sphere on his Cosmonata weapon. “Cosmic Energy Cutting!”, he declared as he leapt towards Ryudon, slashing him again.

“Not again.”, Ryudon exclaimed. “But I can still take you down. Gearoid activate!” With that command given, he collapsed and died once more, this time consumed by the flames. Elsewhere, a Detainer climbed into a cockpit, operating some controls.

With that done, the two Yuris merged back into one, who received a call on his Morpher. It was from Slash. “The Myron we followed was a fake. We’re on our way to meet with you in our Zords now.”

As he received this message, Yuri saw the Dark Gear transform into a robot. “I’m probably going to need them.”, he responded, before summoning his own Zord, which took off.

Myron watched this happen. “I should probably lend a hand.”, he said as he summoned his own Zord. His Cosmo Sphere generated a giant copy, which buried itself in the ground, before emerging a few minutes later as a giant scorpion.

* * *

Elsewhere, Tarrant had recovered from his earlier attack. “I’ve found you again.”, he said as he summoned his own Zord. “You’re not getting the better of me this time.” He revved up and rammed the Scorpion away from the Lion as it was about to combine. The two then proceeded to have a battle.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. I am not your enemy.”, Myron radioed to Tarrant.

“Oh yes you are.”, came the reply. “You murdered Dr. Cerebron.”

“I had a good reason for that.”, Myron responded. “Just let me tell you the whole story.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Lion had joined up with the other 4 Zords and combined with them. The Swordfish and Chameleon took their usual places as the arms, with the Wolf Zord forming the leg and the Serpent Zord forming the other leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“What is that thing?”, Yuri asked. Then he shook it off. “Whatever it is, we need to take it down.”

The two robots crossed swords, getting a few hits on each other. Then Mila launched her attack. “Chameleon Tonge Attack!” But the Gearoid was able to pull back on the whip, damaging the robot. “I’m hit.”, she called out.

“Let’s try something different.”, Cobras suggested. He then switched positions with Mila. “Serpent Klawbra!” He launched his claw hand at the Gearoid, knocking it back enough to slash it with the Swordfish arm. The Snake Arm then extended and got more hits in on the opponent.

“Now let’s finish this.”, Yuri suggested. “Cosmo Megazord Slash!” Everyone activated the finisher function, firing a beam of energy from the sword, destroying the Gearoid. “”This Space is ours.”

* * *

Some time later, everyone returned to the ground. “So you’re saying that Myron’s on our side.”, Slash said. “That his attacking us was a result of Tarrant’s impulsiveness.”

“That does make a lot of sense.”, Mila pointed out. “Speaking of which, where are they? I haven’t seen either of them in a while.”

As if on cue, Tarrant reappeared with Myron, with the former on an ATV while the latter was on the same motorcycle as earlier. “We’ve made up with each other.”, Tarrant reported. “Especially after Myron told me the whole story.”

“You mean, there’s more than what I got told?”, Yuri asked.

“Indeed.”, Myron nodded. “Tarrant here was originally built to act as an all-purpose weapon of destruction by Gingaku. But then the weapon ended up developing sentience. And the good Doctor didn’t like that idea, so he sent me to ensure it’s termination. But when I saw that robot acting the same as a child would do, and I couldn’t do it. So I let him go and decided to destroy the lab so that Cerebron couldn’t continue with his experiments. Luckily, he was in there when the building caught fire, so I had the added benefit of being able to putting a stop to his work permanently instead of temporarily. But then my face ended up being caught on the monitors and I became known as the man who killed Dr. Cerebron. So I decided to hide out here until I was ready to help out the Anti-Gingaku movement more directly.”

“We’re sorry we came for you now.”, Mila said. “You know, before you were ready.”

“Believe me, I was ready for a while.”, Myron informed her. “I was just holding out since I’m not good with people. I even worked out an easier way to summon these Ability Spheres than simply having to lug them around and throw them.”

Then the conversation was interrupted by a communication beep. It was Winda on the other end. “Everyone, get back to the ship. We have something you should see.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Dark Soul, Spectrum and the third figure were reviewing what they had observed on the planet. “So?”, Dark Soul asked. “Was he the one you had a history with, Spectrum?”

“Of course he was, I’d know his face as well as his own parents.”, Spectrum answered. “I also noticed the third member of our little group seemed to know something about him. Isn’t that right, Dr. Cerebron?”

Dr. Cerebron snorted. “Of course I’d recognise that face anywhere. The face of the traitor who left me like this.” The lights switched on to reveal that all he had was a sphere, which opened to reveal an emaciated head, compeletely burned and missing an eye, with the mouth stuck in a rictus grin. “Luckily, my total survival sphere allowed me to preserve my best feature. My magnificent brain. And now he destroyed the modified Commanaga I worked so hard on.”

Dark Soul seemed unnerved, but carried on. “Perhaps if I were to locate different creatures for you to hybridise, it could be made to work.” It was then that the computer started beeping.

“There’s an unauthorised broadcast signal being transmitted. On all official and unofficial channels.”, Spectrum noted, looking at the computer.

“Play it.”, the voice of Gingaku echoed through the room. Spectrum wearily complied, bringing up the image of Metaro.

* * *

** Unnamed Planet. **

In their ship, the Rangers saw the same message playing back. “Oh gee, this guy again.”, Yuri said with annoyance.

“ _Peoples of the universe, please attend carefully. I was once the ruler of the Archer Nebula, a position that commanded fear among the common people. Then I was humiliated by a human from Earth and lost my position. I want that earthman to know that I have gone to his planet, located and taken control of his home city. I can easily locate and begin hunting down your friends and loved ones, unless you come here to face me. You have 48 hours._ ” With that said, the message ended.

Commander Drago gave his opinion. “Thiss is obviously a trap, Yuri. You can’t let him get to you.”

“I know.”, Yuri replied. “But I still have to go. If nothing else, I could discover something about my missing past. If you don’t want to come with me, then I’ll accept that.”

But nobody raised an objection. “Wherever you go, we go.”, Slash told him. “You’re part of our team now.”

“Well that’s settled.”, Winda noted. “The course will be input and we will be there in a quarter of the time.”

With the decision made, the ship took off, heading towards a little blue planet in the Milky Way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off episode 3 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> I know that the modified Tsuyoindaver is based on a flower, but I changed it to something more intimidating here. But it does cause a problem when another modified Tsuyoindaver that actually is based on a dragon turned out to be appearing in a few episodes. 
> 
> Dr. Cerebron was supposed to be making his debut here, but I ended up making him the unnamed person talking with Dark Soul in the last chapter. 
> 
> Just as Myron was named for Mira from Bakugan New Vestroia, Spectrum/Heath was named for Spectra/Keith from the same show, to further the reference.


	5. Spread Your Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Rangers land on Earth, Winda decides to tail Yuri to learn more about him.

** Gingaku Brainworld **

In the central chamber of the temple, Gingaku had issued a command to the followers immediately available to him, ordering them into his presence. However, the only one to enter his chamber was Spectrum. “Dark Soul sends his apologies, but he had to depart for a task he felt was more important.”

“His absence will be excused.”, Gingaku stated calmly. “What won’t be is the absence of our own Dr. Cerebron, who resides within a laboratory in this very structure.”

“Hold your horses, I’ll be there.” A hologram of a middle aged man in a lab coat manifested itself. “But due to my own lack of mobility, I assume you’ll forgive the fact my presence is via holographic avatar.”

“Cut the technobabble, Cerebron.”, Spectrum growled. “Now then, I can hazard a guess as to why you called us here.”

“Exactly. The reemergence of Metaro on Earth. In order to obtain the strength he claims to possess, he would have to defeat one of the Area Controllers of that planet and seize his. This could disrupt our plans concerning the Earth.”

Spectrum tilted his head. “What makes you think that this Metaro could be capable of hijacking an entire Area for himself?”, he asked.

Gingaku sighed. “Like me, Metaro is a first generation Gingaku clansman. We trained together in order to launch our assault on the universe. There are few of us earlier than the second generation in the clan.”

Cerebron’s avatar put his hand on his chin. “If we wish to defeat a first generation clansman, then we need to call upon the aid of someone with the same skill set.”, he mused.

Gingaku laughed. “I like the way you think, Doctor. In fact, I have already called for such a warrior to come and handle the dual situations of Metaro and the Power Rangers.” Gingaku then continued laughing, with Spectrum and Cerebron joining in.

* * *

**Hyperspace**.

Yuri jerked up out of his sleep. Since there were no beds on their ship, everyone was sleeping in their clothes on the chairs. Yuri noticed that no-one seemed to have been disturbed by his sudden catapult nightmare (Jiro’s snoring on the other hand, seemed to be getting on Myron’s nerves). As Yuri stood up, he came face-to-face with Winda. “Whoa, don’t sneak up on me like that.”, he hissed, trying to make his point without waking anyone up.

“My apologies.”, Winda said quietly. The Android then led him out of the room, whereupon she resumed talking, now at a normal pitch. “Something seems to be troubling you, Yuri. May I inquire as to the nature of this?”

“It’s nothing much.”, Yuri answered her. “Just a bad dream.”

“Would you like to tell us about it?” Yuri and Winda turned around to see Myron, standing in the doorway. “You and Jiro are making so much noise, it’s getting hard for me to sleep. And my species don’t stay asleep for long anyway, so that’s saying something.”

Yuri sighed, as he began. “As you probably are aware of, I don’t really remember much prior to waking up on the planet where I found the Lion-01 Cosmo Sphere. But since we left the planet where we found the Cosmo Spheres, I’ve been dreaming of what I think might be how I ended up on that planet.”

Winda was more intrigued. “Please continue with the events of this vision.”

Myron sighed. “It’s called a dream.”, he said exasperatedly. “They’re something virtually everyone has at some point.”

“Really?”, Winda said. She then thought about visions she had been having since she became sentient, during her periods of recharging. Visions wherein she was fighting against Gingaku himself, making him her (appropriate terminology retracted from database).

Yuri ignored their exchange, continuing his recap. “I’m in a shuttle, with another person from my planet. I think we were friends, but I’m not sure. Anyway, while we’re in flight through space, we get attacked by a large number of Dark Gears, with their leader announcing his intent to board us. I manage to make a getaway, and get blown into space, where I black out. I don’t know what happened to my co-pilot.”

Myron took this in with some interest. “That seems very vivid for a fantasy. If that is what happened, then there’s the driving questions of how you ended up on a planet with no space suit or apparatus. And why you’re just beginning to remember this information.”

“It could have something to do with how Yuri is making a homecoming.”, Winda suggested. “We may have passed through the section of space where he originally ended up with the Cosmo Sphere. It may have triggered a memory within his subconscious, in the form of his dream.”

Before the conversation could continue further, the ship exited Hyperspace, appearing in orbit over Earth. “We seem to have arrived.”, Myron noticed. “I’ll wake up the others while you two work on getting us through the security protocols.”

* * *

** Corona City, Earth. **

A Commanaga operating a console turned to his Area Controller, Yumejira. He was a purple, whale like creature, wearing turquoise garments and wielding a staff. He also had golden cuffs and spiked shoulders. “Controller, we have a ship requesting permission to land.”, the technician reported.

Yumejira huffed. “What is their business here? We aren’t expecting any new arrivals.”

“They claim to have rescued a marooned traveller from Earth.”, was the answer. “They merely wish to return him to his own kind and claim they are unaware of any resistance outlets on Earth.”

“Let them through.” Both Yumejira and the Commanaga turned to see Metaro, brandishing his weapon. “The Rangers are trying to sneak past your shields using a plausible cover story. They responded to my message and I’m waiting for them to come and meet their doom.”

“Ok then.”, Yumejira signalled for the ship to be allowed through. “They won’t find much help from the citizens of this city.” He brought up a screen, showing several people with dull eyes and zombie-like gaits. “Especially since I got to them first.”

* * *

** Corona City Limits. **

The Rangers’ commandeered ship landed easily, before all the lights within the ship suddenly died, along with any electronic noise. “Alright, what happened to the power?”, Jiro complained.

“These ships’ fuel cells don’t tend to have a long life.”, Slash answered. “Evidently, we picked one that didn’t have much life in it.”

“And there aren’t any replacement fuel cells between here and KO-35.”, Scales noted. “So for the time being, we’re stuck here.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”, Commander Drago stated faux-solemnly. “There are a lot of Gingaku controlled areas on this planet, so we shouldn’t be losing ground in taking them out.”

“Right.”, Mila nodded. “We can use the Zords to cover the distance to get rid of the Dark Gears.”

“Hopefully before they turn into Gearoids again.”, Tarrant added helpfully.

“Well, I think that’s the least of our current worries.”, Cobras pointed out. “What about providing ourselves with shelter and allies on this planet?”

“I’ve already considered that.”, Myron answered. “There’ll likely be a rebellion active on this planet, given that Gingaku doesn’t pride themselves on being fair and benevolent. It’s just a matter of finding and forging an alliance.”

“Which brings me to my plan.”, Drago interjected. “We’re going to split up into two groups. I’ll take one group and head off to find the resistance movement.”

“And I’ll take the rest of us to find and take out Metaro and the Area Controller.”, Yuri realised. “If we’re picking teams, then I’ll take Jiro, Tarrant, Mila and Slash. Are you guys ok with that?”

“Not entirely.”, Mila responded, stepping forward. “What’re we supposed to do if we need one of these new Cosmo Spheres? We can’t exactly carry them around with us.”

“Not a problem.”, Myron answered her. “Last night, I spent some time modifying the belts of the Ranger suits. Now you can call upon any that you want to use.”

“Well, I think that’s all in order.”, Drago stated. “I guess we should move out.”

* * *

After walking as a group for a while, the two parties came to a metaphorical crossroads. “I guess this is where we split off.”, Yuri stated.

“You assume correctly.”, Myron said back to him. “Our group will go one way and find the resistance, while your group will head on into the city.” He then held his arm out for a handshake, which was reciprocated. “Alright, time to go.” He morphed into his Ranger form and inserted a Cosmo Sphere into his Morpher. “Chariot-62 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He fired a beam, that turned into a set of three bikes.

Tarrant seemed confused. “Only 3 bikes? I thought five of you were going.”

“Actually, I was talking with Myron on the way over and I decided to join with Yuri’s group when we separated.”, Winda clarified. “If Yuri can find anything that could trigger his missing memories, then I want to be there.”

“And I decided to let her go along with you if she wants to.”, Drago interjected. “These bikes may not use up fuel, but having less members in our group will speed things up.”

“Speaking of speeding things up, we should be going.”, Scales suggested. “Let’s just pick a bike and set off.”

“Indeed.” Cobras and Scales both went for the same bike, which as if on instinct, turned into a snake-themed bike with a weighing scales-themed sidecar. The two then immediately climbed into what seemed to be their designated seats. Myron sighed as he climbed onto another bike, which changed to match his scorpion motif. Commander Drago mounted the third bike, which didn’t change at all, and the three then set off on their task.

“So now we find and take out Metaro.”, Slash stated. “We always get the hard jobs, don’t we?”

“Metaro’s actively looking for us, so he can take his revenge.”, Mila pointed out. “By comparison, what we’re doing is easy. We don’t even know if the local rebellion is anywhere near here.”

“It would help if we had any idea what ‘here’ is like.”, Jiro suggested. He then turned to Yuri. “Can you tell us anything about this place, buddy?”

“With my memory, I’ll be lucky if I can remember the name of my local library.”, was Yuri’s answer.

* * *

As they continued to walk into the city, they found that, contrary to their expectations, their were a large number of people in the city. But they appeared to be standing around, not really doing anything. “Are humans normally this boring?”, Slash asked as he observed everyone.

“From my limited recollection, not really.”, Yuri replied. “Maybe we could try asking one of them what the problem is?”

“Good idea.”, Tarrant declared. Then he went over to one of the people and practically yelled in his face “Hey there, human. Why’s everyone such a downer around here?” Behind him, Slash could do nothing but facepalm. The others were too shocked to do even that.

“We are waiting for the next work cycle to begin.”, the man Tarrant had asked said in reply. There was no emotion or to his voice at all. It was a simple monotone. “There is nothing else to live for.”

“Something’s off.”, Yuri realised. “I’m getting memories of this guy and he wasn’t anything like this when I knew him.”

“You knew him?”, Winda asked. Then she had a realisation. “That might mean he was someone important to you. Who is he?”, she urged Yuri to remember.

“He was… my chiropractor.”, Yuri said. He then ran up the chiropractor and started shaking him. “Dr. Steve. It’s me, Yuri. What happened to you to make you lose your passion in life?”

But Dr. Steve merely repeated what he had said before, in exactly the same tone. “We are waiting for the next work cycle to begin. There is nothing else to live for.”

“Something’s wrong with everyone.”, Yuri said. “I need to find out what.” And then he turned and ran off.

“Yuri, wait.”, Winda called after him as she ran in the same direction.

Mila sighed. “We’d better follow them.”, she said as they tried running after the other two. But before they could get anywhere, they were shot at from above.

It was Metaro, standing on a gantry “You fell for the bait I set exactly as planned.”, he said, brandishing his bow once again.

“So it was a trap.”, Mila said under her breath. “But there’s no time to dwell on it now. Let’s do this.” Everyone pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and summoned their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” In a flash, the four turned into their Ranger forms.

“That won’t make a difference.”, Metaro exclaimed. He fired his bow again, knocking them back. He then jumped down and began swinging his weapon in staff mode. “I am a first generation warrior of Gingaku. There are few individuals that can match my strength.” Sure enough, he knocked them down handily. “But I won’t destroy you yet. I need to wait for Yumejira to bring your friend the human to me.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri continued running, only to come to a stop in a park. “It’s hopeless. I don’t even know where to start.”, he said to himself. Then he looked around. “Oh great, I managed to lose everyone already.”

“Not everyone.” Yuri turned around to see Winda following after him. “I realised that your adrenaline levels were spiking and decided to check on you. What’s causing your current stress levels?”

“I’m not stressed.”, Yuri stated. “I just want to find the freak that did this to these people and give him a piece of my mind.”

“I think I can grant that request.” Both Yuri and Winda turned around to see Yumejira, standing there with a small party of Detainers. “My name is Yumejira and I am the Area Controller around these parts.”

Yuri came to a realisation. “You’re the one that did that to those people.”

“My my, you are an observant one.”, Yumejira said mockingly. “I like to feed off people’s dreams and hopes and these city folk were a 5 star buffet for me. And I found you by detecting your strong dreams.”

“Trust me, you don’t want my dreams.”, Yuri said as he charged at the whale-like alien.

“You’re right there.”, Yumejira responded as he knocked Yuri out of the way. “It’s your robot friend I’m after.”

“Me?”, Winda asked, confused. As Yumejira approached, Winda tried fighting back. “I’m just a machine. I can’t have dreams.”

“Oh you’re a machine alright.”, Yumejira said as he grabbed her punch and grew her to the floor. “But you’ve developed AI enough to have dreams of your own. And I’m going to take them from you.” He caused his target to manifest a large cloud over her head. “So, you dream of being able to take down Gingaku himself. And being able to help people. Well if that isn’t the mushiest pile of….”

“Don’t mock her dreams.”, Yuri called out. “If she wants to fight against evil, then that’s a good thing. As a machine built for evil, it’s a sign that she’s more capable of growing as a person than she was built to be.”

Yumejira laughed at this. “You’re defending the delusions of a faulty machine. That’s just hilarious.”

“I’m not the faulty machine here.”, Winda declared. “You are. And I’m going to shut you down, along with the rest of your organisation.” As if on cue, a Cosmo Sphere appeared in front of Winda, as she took it into her hand. “Could this mean… I’ve been chosen to be…?” When she looked at the number on the Sphere, it was labelled “08”, the one missing number from the original 9.

Yuri was also surprised to see this. “Now I wasn’t expecting that.”, he said. “But if you’ve got a Cosmo Sphere, then you must be someone the Spheres consider worthy.”

“You’re right.”, Winda nodded. “Now then, as you say Yuri, ‘It’s Morphing Time!’.”

Yuri nodded, pulling out his Cosmo Sphere. The two then slid them into the logo formation, with Winda’s forming the shape of an eagle. They then summoned their Cosmo Morphers and inserted their Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They then fired their guns, surrounding themselves in a beam of energy. When it cleared, both were in their Ranger suits. Winda’s was pink, bearing an eagle motif and a set of wings on the back.

“Whoah, this is so cool.”, Winda said as she looked over herself. Then she had a realisation. “This feeling within me… is this… emotion?”

“Oh it’s definitely emotion.”, Yuri assured her. “Now you just need to put them to good use against this freak.”

“Two Rangers?”, Yumejira said in shock. “Annihilate them!”

And thus, a fight ensued. Winda manifested the pieces of her Cosmo Weapon, taking only the hilt. “This suits me perfectly.”, she said as she fired at the Detainers, taking a few of them out. Then she came face-to-face with a pair of Commanagas, who fired missiles at her from their staffs. However, she dodged by jumping into the air, staying there thanks to the wings on her back. “You’ll have to do better than that, boys.” The Commanagas fired again, with Winda flying through a warehouse to avoid the missiles, dodging out of their way at the last second.

From the ground, Yumejira was shocked by what he saw. “They fly now?”

“And being on the ground won’t help you.”, Winda shouted as she pulled out a Cosmo Sphere from her belt, inserting it into her Morpher. “Telescope-20 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” The blast created a magnified image of Yumejira. “I’ve got you in my sights now.”, she declared as she brandished her Cosmo Blaster. The blast went through the magnifier, knocking Yumejira back and forcing him to release a large cloud of the dreams he had sucked up, which returned to the people in the city.

On the ground, Yuri watched with amazement, having defeated the rest of the Detainers. “Wow, you’re really good at this. But I’m not about to let you hog all the glory.” He placed his Cosmo Sphere onto his Saber, using a slash to take out the Commanagas. “And that just leaves the whale to be hunted.”

“Things aren’t going to his plan.”, Yumejira said nervously. “Metaro promised I’d be able to take you out easily.”

Yuri was shocked to hear this. “You’re working with Metaro?”

“Of course I am, you fool. The plan was for me to take you to him, while he captured your friends. Then we’d have all of you executed in front of these humans as a warning. Looks like I’ll have to tell him myself.” With that, Yumejira teleported away.

“This is bad.”, Winda realised. “The rest of our group has been captured by the enemy.”

“We’ll have to bring the others in to help us.”, Yuri said. “We can’t face him by ourselves.”

* * *

** The Dark Gear. **

Yumejira returned to be met with an irate Metaro. “The humans in this sector have become restless.”, Metaro said angrily. “I thought you had them under control.”

“I did, before that new Ranger got in the way.”, Yumejira grumbled. “She caused me to lose all the assembled dreams I’d gathered, and prevented me from taking the other Ranger hostage.”

“Another one?”, Metaro said angrily. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve got 4 of them in our grasp. We just need to put them on display as a warning.”

“Yes, in the town centre.”, Yumejira nodded. “That should lure out the others to meet their doom.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Myron, Scales and Cobras met with Yuri and Winda. “This had better be good, Yuri. The Commander had stumbled upon a promising lead for the Rebellion.”, Myron said slightly irritated.

“We’ve got bad news and we’ve got good news.”, Yuri told him. “The good news is that we’ve found our ninth Ranger, as Winda can attest to.” Sure enough, Winda held out her Cosmo Sphere for all to see.

“That’s definitely the missing Eagle-08.”, Myron said. “Now, what’s the bad news?”

As if on cue, the image of Yumejira appeared on a screen. “ _People of this sector. I know that, due to unforeseen circumstances, you have regained your lost hopes and dreams. I know that many of you would like to see my head served up on a platter. But in case any of you have any ideas of joining the rebellion efforts against me and my comrades on your planet, I’ve something special for all of you.”_ The image then cut to the captive Jiro, Tarrant, Mila and Slash. “ _The newest team of Power Rangers that would also stand against our conquests. They will be executed in the city square as an example of what happens to those who defy Gingaku. End transmission.”_

Scales looked shocked at this outcome. “What can we do?”, he asked with terror in his voice.

“There is only one option open to us.”, Cobras stated as he nodded towards Myron.

“Exactly. A rescue operation.”, the latter continued. “And I think I’ve got just the plan.”

* * *

** Corona City Centre. **

Metaro has just finished setting up the captured Rangers. “You’re not going to get away with this.”, Slash yelled at him.

“Yuri will come and save us.”, Jiro added.

“We’re counting on it.”, Metaro replied. “Then we can take down all of you at once.”

“Then why waste time?” Metaro and Yumejira turned around to see Yuri standing there. “You want me? I’m right here.”

“Wow, that was easy.”, Yumejira said as he went over to the last of the five.

“Yes… too easy… It’s a trick!”, Metaro called out. Before anyone could react, the two Gingaku commanders were shot back by lasers from Scales and Winda, while Myron and Cobras jumped forward and cut through the chains of the captives, setting them free. “You impertinent.”

“You seem to be ignorant of the growth we’ve been making.”, Yuri pointed out. “When we first met, there were only 5 Rangers. Now we have all 9 ready to face you.” As he said this, the other eight gathered round him.

Mila was shocked to hear this. “Wait, ‘nine’?”, she asked as Winda held up her Sphere again for the 4 escapees to see.

“Curse you.”, Metaro declared. “I may not be part of Gingaku, but I can still do this. Gaku Zone, teleport!”

“Wait, what was that about being part of Gingaku?”, asked Yumejira. But instead of receiving an answer, he got sucked up with the others, ending up in a quarry-like area.

“We’ve been through one of these places before.”, Yuri pointed out. “We got out there and we can do it here. Are you guys ready?”

Everyone else nodded and pulled out their Cosmo Spheres. “It’s Morphing Time!” They slid their spheres into formation and summoned their Cosmo Morphers, into which they inserted their Cosmo Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They pushed their spheres forward, summoning their Ranger suits. They then proceeded to do a series of elaborate poses.

Yuri: “Fire of the Lion! Red Ranger!”

Myron: Venom of the Scorpion! Orange Ranger!”

Jiro: “Claw of the Wolf! Blue Ranger!”

Scales: “The Balance of Good and Evil! Gold Ranger!”

Tarrant: “Strength of the Bull! Black Ranger!”

Cobras: “Glimmer of the Serpent! Silver Ranger!”

Mila: “Stealth of the Chameleon! Green Ranger!”

Winda: “Agility of the Eagle! Pink Ranger!”

Slash: “Blade of the Swordfish! Yellow Ranger!”

Bringing the Universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

As Metaro looked on in shock, Yuri pointed towards him. “Prepare to go down.” The Rangers ran forward towards their enemy, as both sides unleashed shots at each other. Jiro and Myron used their weapons to take down a Commanaga and a few Detainers. Scales jumped around shooting at more Detainers, as Tarrant slashed more of them with his axe. Winda fired at another group from above, before Slash cut through them with his Dagger.

“Try and stop me.”, Yuri said as he ran along the quarry, cutting through more Detainers and engaging a Commanaga, before blowing them up with his Cosmo Saber.

But then Yumejira approached him. “I suppose I will take your dreams after all.” He proceeded to absorb his target’s dreams, before being overwhelmed. “This isn’t a positive dream. I can’t get through this.”

“Yeah, my own dreams are nothing to get happy about.”, Yuri admitted. “But I’m sure you’ll get quite a unique meal out of them.”

“Oh no.”, Yumejira said as he floated upwards. “I can’t digest this.”, he said as he exploded.

Elsewhere, Metaro has been engaged by Jiro and Winda. “So, my former pet and my former assistant. I see time with these Rangers hasn’t helped your ego one bit.”, he said as he brandished his staff again.

“You’re one to talk.”, Jiro said in response. “We ruined your career and you became intent on hunting us down.”, he used a Cosmo Sphere numbered “52” and began fighting his former slave master in a style not unlike a dog.

“But you failed to realise how they took you down.”, Winda said after firing some shots at her former boss. “They weren’t deluding themselves into a set view of the universe.” She then inserted a Cosmo Sphere numbered “57” and used it gain a giant pair of wings, which she used to pick up Metaro and throw him into the air.

“You impertinent.”, Metaro declared, as he summoned his ship to break his fall so he could fly off. “I’ll defeat you myself.”

“We’ll just have to call in the big guns.”, Yuri declared. Everyone nodded and activated their Zord summoning option. The previous eight Zords, plus Winda’s new one (an eagle) were manifested.

Yumejira’s Growth Implant detonated, reviving him at giant size. “Now I’ll have a whale of a time.”, he declared.

“We need to split this up.”, Yuri stated. “Zords, combine!” The Lion combined with the Swordfish and Eagle as the right and left arms respectively and the the Serpent and Balance Zords as the right and left legs. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“So this is what it’s like in a Zord.”, Winda stated.

“Bellevue me, this is just the start of the fun.”, Slash radioed.

The Megazord engaged Yumejira, slashing him before jumping and performing a kick. “Now let’s finish this.”, Yuri stated, as the Rangers executed the finisher option. “Cosmo Megazord Dual Kick!” The two legs extended to strike Yumejira, destroying him. “Time to go after Metaro.”, he said as the Zords split up and flew off to join the ones in space.

Metaro was firing at them from his ship. “I’m going to end your rebellion here and now.”, he declared.

“Don’t underestimate our power.”, was the response he received. The 9 Rangers then fired their weapons at his ship, damaging it significantly.

“Time for a different combination.”, Yuri said as he reinitiated the sequence. This time, the Scorpion was the right arm, the Bull was the left arm, the Chameleon was the right leg and the Wolf was the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready… again!”

“You really think that will make a difference against me?”, Metaro yelled.

“Actually, yes.”, Myron responded as he fired a laser from his arm which cut through much of the ship.

Tarrant then proceeded to do the same. “That looks like fun.” The combined power of two blasts actually knocked Metaro out of his seat.

“I won’t let you hurt anyone ever again.”, Yuri said as he reinitiated the final attack. “Nine Zords Blast!” The 9 beams fired at the ship, destroying it and its pilot totally. “This Space is ours.”, the nine declared.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Dark Soul returned from his mission to see a pair of figures standing in Gingaku’s temple. “Who are these two?”, he asked his Lord.

“Watch your tongue, dog.”, the taller of the two declared angrily. Dark Soul noticed that he bore a resemblance to a squid, like the ones back on Earth. “You are looking at one of Lord Gingaku’s greatest warriors, the great Squideyasu.”

“I called Squideyasu here, along with his assistant Cha-ChaMari to help deal with our two ongoing problems.”, Gingaku clarified. “Metaro and the Power Rangers.”

“‘One’ problem.”, Dark Soul clarified. “The Rangers have defeated Metaro by themselves. They only have to do half the job.”

“Only half?”, the shorter of the two, a cephalopod-like alien with a beret and a breathing mask, with a female voice asked. “This must’ve been an easy job, to have half of it resolve the other half.”

“Or it’s a sign of how powerful the Rangers have become.”, Squideyasu suggested. “My dear, we are in for a long and arduous battle indeed.”

* * *

** Earth **

The Rangers landed back on Earth. “I still can’t believe that Winda became a Ranger.”, Slash said. “I mean, who’da thunk it that a random secretary droid we tried to trick would become a vital member of the team?”

“I’m just as amazed as you are.”, Winda assured him. “This is the most excitement I’ve ever had in my life.”

But then Mila deflected everyone’s attention on to something else. “Guys, I think we’ve got company.”

Sure enough, they were surrounded by several humans wearing guerrilla outfits, with helmets obscuring their appearances and voices. “So you’re the ones who defeated the Gingaku higher-ups.”, one of them said.

“Who wants to know?”, Myron asked, preparing his Morpher for the works.

“Stand down everyone.”, Commander Drago declared as he stepped forward. “I’ve already come to an agreement with the rebellion cell in this area. We’ll be working together for the time being.”

“Okay then.”, Yuri said. “Then, as a gesture of good will, we’re going to reveal our identities to you.” Everyone followed him in removing their Cosmo Spheres, returning to their normal appearances.

“No, it can’t be.” One of the soldiers removed their helmet, revealing a young woman, who went over to Yuri with a shocked look on her face. “Yuri, is it really you, after all these years?”

Yuri looked over her for a few seconds, struggling to recognise her. “Do I… know you?”

“It’s me, Pam. Your best friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on episodes 4 and 5 of Kyuranger, since I didn’t want to devote a part of the plot to a repetitive Gearoid battle and I felt that Metaro made a good enough starter villain for Winda. There’s also a brief use of episode 2 footage when Metaro attacks the Rangers.
> 
> I should probably point out that, with the exception of outsider members (Dark Soul, Spectrum, Cerebron) all of Gingaku’s clansmen are named for Sengoku-era figures. Metaro is a slight exception, since his name is a portmanteau of “metal”, “arrow” and “taro”.
> 
> Yumejira is a merger of “Yume” (dream) and “Kumejira” (whale), befitting his motif and powers.


	6. The Dancing Pegasus Armour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri receives a new Cosmo Sphere that allows him to power up. Unfortunately, this power up talks back, forcing Yuri to have to learn to work with it.

** Gingaku Brainworld, Unknown Sector. **

In the laboratory of Dr. Cerebron, Squideyasu forced his way in. “What is the meaning of this?”, the Doctor demanded. “You can’t just barge in here unannounced.”

“Actually, I can.”, the newcomer responded. “As an elite warrior of Gingaku, I’m entitled to access all areas I desire access to at any time.”

“Well aren’t you special?”, Spectrum snarked. “I can’t see what business you have in here. Don’t you already have a drone active?”

“Yes, but I’m here for something better than a mere drone.”, Squideyasu waved him aside. “I know you’ve been experimenting with the Commanaga gene code, adding in DNA from other creatures to enhance their strength.”

“Yes, after my first attempt failed, I had Dark Soul gather samples from Earth creatures, around the same time Metaro was defeated.”

“That’s how I found out that the Rangers had defeated them.”, Dark Soul clarified. “And that there are now nine Rangers opposing us. Even with these modified Commanagas, you’d better be careful.”

“Don’t think that we’re some rank amateurs like the Area Controllers.”, Cha-ChaMari blurted out, barging into the room. “We’re prepared for a couple of freaks in spandex.”

“Nevertheless, it would be better for us to observe our targets at first.”, Squideyasu pointed out. “These modified Commanagas need time to ferment anyway. For now, I think we can set up a test of strength.”

* * *

** Planet Earth, Orion-Cygnus Arm. **

“ _This was the scene yesterday where 9 new Power Rangers appeared in Area CC-17, defeating both the Area Controller and another Gingaku member visiting the planet. Rebellion cells in the area have been galvanised, taking out Gingaku enforcers on patrol. Word is spreading that they may in fact make the still-standing Dark Gear their next target.”_

In Area BBH-02, Area Controller Hornitor switched off the broadcast. He was an orange/green alien with a long neck. “One Area Controller gets defeated and suddenly the humans think they can rebel.” He went over to the balcony of his lair, overseeing the beach area where he had been posted. “But that won’t happen in my sector. No sir.” He cracked his whip at the floor, startling his guards. “At least I’m smart enough to hide here in this abandoned building instead of a Dark Gear.”

“ _Hornitor._ ” The alien turned around to be greeted by the familiar image of Dark Soul. This guy had shown up out of nowhere a few years ago and had somehow become Gingaku’s mouthpiece. “ _New orders from higher-up. You have been summarily transferred to Area CC-17.”_

“What?”, Hornitor said in shock. “But I’m doing a good job maintaining order in my own Area.”

“ _Which is why we need you to restore it in that Area.”_ , was the response. “ _We think your skills could help fight off the Power Rangers. This offer is non-negotiable.”_ With that, the image signed off.

Hornitor sighed. “I guess I’d better bring my army over there.”, he said to himself.

* * *

** Earth Orbit. **

“ _The bait has been placed.”_ , Dark Soul reported to Squideyasu.

“Excellent.”, came the reply. “Now I just need to wait for the Rangers to respond.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

The Rangers were being shown around the camp. “We never stay in one place for longer than two nights. But we’ve got everything we need to live for a group of thirty.”, the guide explained. “For security reasons, our Commander never stays with us, or even graces us with her presence unless it’s something important.”

“Clever.”, Commander Drago commented. “That way, she can’t be identified and can maintain enough implausible deniability. I wish I’d thought of it.”

“So what you’re saying is that we shouldn’t get used to the scenery?”, Myron pointed out. “Well if we can’t get out into space, I suppose visiting new locales will be a good substitute.”

“Speaking of knowing the scenery, what happened to Yuri?”, Mila thought to ask. “He went off with that girl and we haven’t heard a peep since.”

“I think they have a bit of a past together.”, Slash suggested. “She might be the clue he needs to unlock his lost past.”

* * *

In one of the tents, Yuri was indeed talking with the woman called Pamela. “Come on, Yuri. You can’t say you’re not remembering something just from being with me.”, she urged.

“So, let me get this straight.”, Yuri said. “My name is Yuri Michaels, you’re my longtime friend Pamela Jones and I disappeared in space 5 years ago along with another astronaut named Gregory Packer.” He took a deep breath. “I’m trying, but it’s just not coming back to me. I know that I had a chiropractor and I have vague images of being in space with another man…”

“And none of that’s helping you to ring any bells?”, Pamela asked.

“I’m afraid not. I don’t remember anything prior to waking up on a planet 5 years ago.”, Yuri said sorrowfully. “For now, the man you knew is gone and he’s probably not coming back. I don’t know you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. What’ve you been doing since I originally left Earth?”

“It didn’t go well for me any better than it did for you.”, Pam answered. “Not long after you left, Gingaku attacked our world, turning some of the population into Detainers and placing their Dark Gears in several locations on Earth. While most people decided to fall in line and be guaranteed a quiet existence, the rest of us didn’t. We’ve been running sabotage, stealing important necessities and making it clear to Gingaku they aren’t welcome here. But we haven’t been making much of a mark other than a few quarantine rules being put in place.”

“Hopefully, we should be able to change all that.”, Yuri assured her. “We’re going to kick Gingaku out, find Gregory wherever he is and then take the universe back.”

As he said this, a siren blared throughout the area. Scales entered the tent. “I thought I’d find you here. Yuri, there’s something big about to happen, man. You should probably see it.”

* * *

As Yuri and Scales rejoined the others, the image of Hornitor appeared on a screen. “ _People of Area CC-17, for the past 24 hours, you have been labouring under the delusion that you have been liberated. Think again, humans. I have come to restore the order that Yumejira had taken with him in his untimely demise. And if the Power Rangers wish to stop me, then proceed to the city centre. My troops will be waiting.”_ With that said, the transmission ended.

“It’s obviously a trap.”, Drago commented. “If all of us go in there, there’s no guarantee all of us will come back.”

“And I’m not entirely trained.”, Winda added. “I can’t hope that every battle will be like my first.”

“Good points, both of you.”, Yuri said. “We should only send a few of us into battle with this Hornitor guy. The rest can hang back in case we need them.”

“I nought we’d have to face a situation like this.”, Commander Drago declared (“No you didn’t.”, Mila said under her breath). “So I prepared this.” He pulled a roulette wheel with the Rangers’ logo on it from his jacket. “Everyone put their Cosmo Sphere into this thing. The first 5 to come out will go on the mission, while the rest hang back.”

“What’ve we got to lose?”, Myron shrugged, putting his Sphere into the roulette. The others proceeded to do the same. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alrighty then.” Commander Drago turned the handle, until 5 Cosmo Spheres were ejected from the machine. They were Lion-01, Wolf-03, Balance-04, Chameleon-07 and Swordfish-09. “It’s decided then. Myron, Winda, Tarrant and Cobras will stay behind.”

“Oh thank goodness.”, Winda said, mimicking the gestures of a sigh of relief.

“Aw, I wanted a piece of the action today.”, Tarrant said dejectedly.

“You still can.”, Cobras pointed out. “Winda wants help training. You can help provide her with such training.”

Myron went over to Yuri, handing him a Cosmo Sphere labelled “33”. “I’ve been going through our collection and found this. It’s powerful, about the same as my Unicorn-27. But it’s untested in the field.”

“I get your point.”, Yuri told him. He picked up the Cosmo Sphere and turned towards the other chosen Rangers. “Okay, away team. Let’s move out.”

“Okay.”, Mila, Slash, Scales and Jiro arm-pumped in unison.

* * *

From across the camp, Pam watched Yuri go on his mission. “He’s totally different to how I remember him. Like he’s a different person entirely.”, she said to herself.

“And why’s that a bad thing?”, said a middle-aged woman in cream-coloured robes and a headscarf. “Sometimes, your loved ones aren’t like your impression of them.”

“How would you know?”, asked Pam.

“When I was in high school, I looked up to my older brother. He meant the world to me. Then I got to see his world firsthand and realised just how much he had to give up. By the end of his time in the military, I’d seen the real side of him and had a much greater appreciation for him than ever.”

“So you’re saying that I shouldn’t hold Yuri to my own general idea of him.”, Pam realised. Then she got a good look at the woman giving her advice. “Wait, aren’t you…?”

The woman put her finger on Pam’s lips. Don’t tell anyone, I’m undercover.”, she whispered.

* * *

In the city centre, people ran in fear from the approach Hornitor was making. “That’s right, humans. Tremble, for your newfound freedom ends now.”

“Hey.” Hornitor turned around to see the Rangers’ away team approaching him. “We worked hard to clear this place of you freaks, and here you go making a mess again.”, Yuri stated.

“Good thing we provide 24 hour cleanup service.”, Scales commented.

“It’s Morphing Time!” Everyone slid their Cosmo Spheres into position and summoned their Morphers. They then inserted the Spheres into the centre of their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They then fired their weapons, creating a series of blasts that turned around and hit them, morphing them into Rangers.

Hornitor was unimpressed. “Let’s see what you’ve got to show for yourselves.”

“Gladly.”, Yuri responded, engaging the Area Controller in hand-to-hand. After a series of dodges, he rolled forward and head butted Hornitor back.

“Help me you fools.”, Hornitor demanded, as a group of Detainers approached. They did as commanded, uprighting their leader.

“Let’s see what this new Sphere can do.”, Yuri said, removing the Cosmo Sphere Myron had given him and sliding it into formation, creating the image of a Pegasus. “Pegasus-33 Cosmo Sphere, set!” He inserted it into his Morpher and pushed it back. “Plus Up!”, he called, remembering the command Myron had used with his Unicorn-27 power-up. He fired, causing a series of stars to appear around him. Yuri looked around in amazement. “So this is what extra power feels like.” Suddenly the stars converged onto his chest, creating a chest plate with winged shoulders and a horse’s head in the centre. “That’s a new one.”, he commented.

“You’re the one who awakened me?”, the chest plate blurted out, shaking as it did so. “Astral Leo must be making strange choices when it comes to his Rangers.”

“What the?”, Yuri said with shock, looking to his left as if there was a camera there for him to react to.

“Did that vest just talk?”, Jiro asked.

Mila nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“Never mind the talking chest plate, let’s get in there.”, Slash pointed out. Everyone nodded and ran forward.

“Detainers!”, Hornitor called out, signalling for his troops to attack. A fight broke out, with Slash and Scales working their way through the henchmen, while Mila and Jiro attacking Hornitor.

“Never mind the arguments, let’s get in there.”, the Pegasus declared, dragging Yuri with it towards the action. He jumped up and down on top of the Detainers, flattening them. “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Pegasus.”

“Not so rough!”, Yuri practically yelled as he was dragged along.

“Okay then.”, Pegasus responded before continuing his fight, bouncing into more Detainers face first (literally). Soon, all the Detainers were piled up on their faces. “I love a job well done.”

“I guess we did it.”, Yuri said doing a fist pump.

Elsewhere, Hornitor was wiping the floor with his opponents. “We’d be able to do it if you were cooperating!”, Jiro growled, pointing his finger.

“Me?”, Mila said incredulously. “You’re the one throwing off my ninja fighting style.”

As the two leaned in, Pegasus jumped forward again, once more taking the unfortunate Yuri along with him. “Here I come to save the day.” But instead of hitting Hornitor, he ended up landing in the middle of the two squabbling Rangers.

“Yuri, what do you think you’re doing?”, Mila said annoyed, as Slash and Scales ran forward to try and decrease the tension.

“While you’re distracted, I’ll take you all out.”, Hornitor declared. As the Rangers looked on in shock, more Detainers appeared and gathered in formation, shooting their opponents apart. “I’ll take my leave now.”, he said as he and his men teleported away.

“What’s your problem, bud?”, Pegasus said to Yuri. “If you’d just go along with my style, we could’ve beaten that guy.”

“Me?”, Yuri said incredulously. “You’re the one who broke my concentration.”

“I think we might have a problem here.”, Slash realised. “You’d better make your way back to the Rebellion Camp. We’ll continue the hunt for this guy.”

“Probably a good idea.”, Yuri said. “Will you let me find someone who can help us work together?”

“Why not? What’ve I got to lose?”, Pegasus responded. “Take me to your friend.”

* * *

From the sidelines, Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari observed all that had occurred. “These idiots defeated two of our best?”, the latter commented. “Hard to believe with that lousy performance.”

“Don’t be so quick to put them down.”, Squideyasu advised. “They seem to be having some difficulty related to that Pegasus. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Winda jumped backwards 360 degrees and landed a kick on Tarrant, knocking him back. She then detransformed. “There. How was that?”

“Not bad.”, Myron said from the skylines. “You performed admirably, considering that your opponents were still holding back.”

“You told me not to seriously damage her.”, Tarrant pointed out. “She is an important part of the team.”

“That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play your part a bit better.”, Myron pointed out. “You were swinging your Cosmo Axe around too many times. It gave her an opening that she took advantage of.”

Before the conversation could continue, Yuri jumped in, still with Pegasus on his chest. “Sorry I’m back right now, but I ran into a problem. It made me a liability.”

Myron observed Yuri’s new chest plate. “Is there a problem with that new power-up I gave you?”, he asked.

“I’m the one with the problem?”, Pegasus exclaimed. “This yutz is the one throwing off my rhythmic style.”

Everyone was shocked to see the chest plate talking. “It can talk?”, Cobras said with shock.

“I have a name, you know.”, Pegasus commented. “It’s Pegasus. I think you should acknowledge that. Astral Leo did.”

“Astral Leo?”, Myron said with shock. “But he’s a legend.”

“So is the story of the Rangers that will save the universe from evil samurai, but here we are.”, Pegasus responded.

“If we can stay focused on the problem at hand.”, Yuri said with frustration. “Neither of us can agree to move in the same direction and it’s making me unable to do anything.”

“I think I can fix that.”, Myron said. He pulled out his Unicorn-27 Cosmo Sphere. “Let’s see how your power-up does against mine.” He slid it into position and inserted it into his Morpher, pushing it back. “Plus Up!” He was auto-morphed into the Orange Ranger, with the second horn arm. “Double Sting Form, ready!”

“We should probably go.”, Winda suggested to the others. “This could get ugly.” The other 2 nodded and walked off with her.

* * *

Back in the city, the other Rangers found Hornitor. “We’re going to stop you this time.”, Mila declared. “Even without Yuri, we have you outnumbered.”

“You’re right.”, Hornitor nodded. “Which is why I bought help.” The Rangers were knocked forward by an explosion from behind, as two Commanagas walked up. “This ought to even up the odds.”, he cackled.

* * *

Back in the quarry, Myron began his fight with Yuri by pushing his horned arm forward. This forced Yuri to jump to the side. “You just need to focus more on evasion.”, Myron stated. He pushed his arm forward again, which caused Pegasus and Yuri to jump over his head.

“Is all this really necessary?”, Yuri asked.

“Your enemies aren’t going to play nice.”, Myron stated. “And if you and Pegasus can’t learn to agree on movements, then you’re sunk.”

“He’s right.”, Pegasus nodded. “When he tries to strike us again, we need to jump over him. Together.”

“Okay.”, Yuri confirmed. Sure enough, when Myron moved in to attack again, Yuri and Pegasus jumped in unison over his head. “Okay, now what?”

“Launch a kick to his back.”, Pegasus advised. Yuri did as instructed, knocking Myron back. “There, we’re getting the hang of it.”

“I’ll say.”, Myron responded. Before they could continue, they were shot backwards by a laser, which reverted Myron to his default Ranger form. “Okay, who’s messing around with lasers?”

“That would be us.” The two Rangers looked up to see two approaching figures, one resembling a squid, the other an octopus. “This lovely vixen accompanying me is Cha-ChaMari. And I am the esteemed Squideyasu.”

“Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari, huh?”, Myron wheezed. “I’ve heard of you. You’re two of Gingaku’s strongest assassins. Yuri, Pegasus, get out of here. I’ll hold them off.”

The two nodded and jumped off. “Hey, boss. Our target’s getting away from us.”, Cha-ChaMari pointed out. “The plan’s falling apart.”

“Nonsense.”, Myron said, pumping his arms. “You can still face me.”

“That’s acceptable, I guess.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she lowered her arms.

Myron assembled his weapon “Cosmonata! Let’s see what you’re made of.”, he said to her. He ran forward and began slashing the two, with the assassins dodging every strike expertly. “You’re good.”

“Indeed.”, Squideyasu concurred. “But I doubt the same can be said of you.”

Sure enough, Cha-ChaMari took the opportunity to shoot at the Orange Ranger. “I’m still not impressed.”

“Perhaps this will make an impression.”, Myron called out as he ran towards Squideyasu. The two crossed blades several times, with Cha-ChaMari running forward to break them up. Myron had to spin around to block both of their weapons. “Nice try.”, he said, as he disappeared in the chaos created.

“Hmm, what an interesting fellow.”, Squideyasu said as he put his staff into his hand. “It looks like we’ll have some competition after all.”

Elsewhere, Myron returned to the camp blurting out what he had seen. “Gingaku have sent assassins after us.”, he yelled. “We need to move out of here now.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Hornitor had made short work of the other Rangers. “Without your leader, you’re worthless against me.”, he declared.

“I guess that’s my cue.” Hornitor and his two lackeys looked up to see Yuri arrive again. “You’re in for a rough fight this time, pal.”

“But instead of being scared, Hornitor and the Commanagas were reduced to laughter. “That’s your plan? To come at me with the same talking vest that defeated you last time? Get him, boys.”

The two Commanagas attacked, but Yuri was able to outmanouvre everything they threw at him, and eventually punch the two out. “It’s true you took me down last time, but I’ve managed to learn to work with Pegasus rather than against him. Isn’t that right?”

“You know it.”, Pegasus nodded. “Now take out this fool.”

“Alright. Cosmo Saber!” Yuri leapt towards Hornitor and delivered a series of slashes that knocked him down. He then ran over to his friends. “Are you guys ready to end this?”

“You know it.”, everyone said in unison. They then summoned and assembled their own weapons. All of them then placed their Cosmo Spheres (Yuri used Pegasus’) onto their weapons. “Super Cosmo Attack!”, they all declared, launching their slashes (or in the case of Scales, a shot) at the enemy.

The energy beams all hit Hornitor. “No, I will not go down like this.”, he declared as he was engulfed. However, he survived the blast and leaped into the Dark Gear, working the cockpit. “If there’s one thing to say about Dark Gears, they can make handy weapons. Gearoid, activate!”

The Dark Gear assumed it’s robotic mode. “You need to take that out as well, I assume.”, said Pegasus.

“Indeed.”, Yuri said as he and the others summoned their Zords, combining them into the Megazord, with Slash as the right arm, Scales as the left arm, Mila as the right leg and Jiro as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Your fancy robot can’t beat mine.”, Hornitor bragged. He moved the Gearoid forward, where it crossed swords with the Megazord.

“Let’s give this guy a nice trip.”, Mila said as she laughed at her own joke. Then the Chameleon leg extended its tongue around the Gearoid’s leg, pulling it down and separating it from its weapon.

“He’ll get a real kick out of this.”, Jiro said as he used his leg to kick the Gearoid down as soon as it got up.

As the Gearoid stumbled to prepare itself, Yuri talked to Pegasus. “You willing to lend me your power once again?”

“You bet.”, was the response. Yuri pushed the Pegasus Sphere in his Morpher back twice and pushed the trigger down, so he could fire it. “Cosmo Megazord Pegasus Blast!” The Megazord flew at its opponent with the wings of Pegasus, which it used to slash the opponent down.

“You insolents.”, Hornitor declared as his Gearoid went up in flames, taking him with it.

“This space is ours.”, Yuri declared.

“Does that includes me?”, Pegasus asked, much to Yuri’s confusion.

* * *

On the ground, Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari had observed the whole scene. “It seems that they’ve resolved their performance issues.”, the former commented.

“Great.”, his assistant replied. “That’ll make it even sweeter once the modified Commanagas we distributed are ready for them.”

“For now, we’ll let them enjoy their victory.”, Squideyasu said as he walked off.

* * *

On the ground, Yuri reverted to normal with Pegasus retreating inside the Cosmo Sphere he came from. “I’ll be off searching the universe for Astral Leo.”, he informed the others as the Sphere began to float off. “But feel free to call me if you need me.” With that, he was gone, hurtling through the vast expanse of space.

“We will.”, Yuri called out. “And speaking of calls.” He pulled up the communicator he had been given by the Commander. “Yuri to Command. We’ve totally cleared this area of Gingaku presence. We don’t think they’ll be back.”

“That’s good.”, Myron’s voice came in from the other end. “We’re moving out anyway. We can’t risk those Gingaku assassins launching an attack on us here.”

“Wait, assassins?”, Mila asked. “What happened while you were back at the base?”

“We’ll talk later.”, Yuri told her. “For now, we just have to get back to the others and prepare for when they get back. Hopefully, Commander Drago has a plan in place.”

* * *

In the Rebellion camp, Drago was making mechanical adjustments to something. “This is bad. If he’s here, then I’m going to have to be ready for him.” He held up a Cosmo Sphere, bearing a dragon symbol and numbered “10”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off episode 6 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Astral Leo, first mentioned here, will play a major role later on. 
> 
> Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari are named for Tokugawa Ieyasu and Yodogimi, both prominent Sengoku era figures. Though the real life counterparts were on opposing sides, theme naming overrides that. 
> 
> Hornitor was named due to his motif being a Monoceros.


	7. The Dragon Enters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers take advantage of an opportunity to take out several Dark Gears. However, interference from Squideyasu results in Commander Drago having to step forward.

**Squideyasu’s Ship, Earth Orbit.**

Squideyasu was going over his plan to Cha-ChaMari. “I have called away all the Area Controllers in the area known as “the United Kingdom. Within that region are 4 Dark Gears, located in the cities of Peterborough, Greenock, Larne and Gwent. I have also passed information on the current absences of the Area Controllers to the Rebellion.”

“What good will that do?”, Cha-ChaMari asked. “Those Rangers will trash the Dark Gears because those idiots listened to you.”

“I’ve sent my modified Commanagas to handle them.”, Squideyasu answered. “MechaDragon is already at their first target. Eventually, we’ll make it so easy that we’ll have the opportunity to capture one of the Rangers, luring the others into our trap.”

“And then we’ll finish those losers once and for all.”, Cha-ChaMari concluded, rubbing her hands together. “I like that idea.”

* * *

** Peterborough, England. **

As Slash flew in to attack the Dark Gear in his Zord, he was confronted by a giant Commanaga, with more elaborate armour and a different head. “So much for easy.”, he said as he saw this.

“You’re not going to take this Dark Gear.”, the Commanaga declared. “Not while MechaDragon stands in your way.” He fired a shot at his target, who was saved by the sudden arrival of the Lion Zord.

“He’s been modified, like the one Myron and I encountered.”, Yuri noted. “Let’s take him out.”

“Good idea.”, Slash saluted. The two took on MechaDragon while Jiro, Myron, Mila and Winda used their Zords to attack the Dark Gear. Eventually, MechaDragon was knocked into the Dark Gear. “We’ve got the perfect opportunity.”

“Let’s finish both off.”, Yuri added. He fired a barrage of missiles, which blew up both Commanaga and Dark Gear. “This space is ours.”

“Not yet.”, Slash radioed. “We still need to take out the other three Dark Gears in this archipelago. You guys handle the Greenock and Larne towers. I’ll take Gwent.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

“They’ve managed to take out one Dark Gear.”, Scales reported to the others. “And now they’ve split up so that they can take down more than one at a time.”

“Good.”, Commander Drago responded. “That way, we can get this mission done ahead of schedule.”

“I still don’t see why we couldn’t join them.”, Tarrant huffed. “It would be even faster if all of us went out there.”

“Because if we go, then the Rebellion will be defenceless as they set up the newest base camp.”, Cobras answered him. “Plus their Zords can use more varied skills than ours.”

“Exactly.”, Drago gave a thumbs up, before walking out of their earshot. “But there’s something suspicious about all this. Why would all of the Area Controllers leave at once? Something’s fishy, or more specifically, squid-y.” He pulled out his cane and a Cosmo Sphere. “I might have to come in and help if things don’t go well.”

* * *

** Squideyasu’s Ship. **

The two assassins watched as the Blue, Orange and Pink Rangers took out another Dark Gear. “They’ve managed to take out the England and Scotland outposts. We may have underestimated them.”

“Or it’s because of how dumb these modified nincompoops are.”, Cha-ChaMari commented. “Did MechaDragon really think that growing to defend the thing that’s already a giant fighter was a smart move? I can’t believe you had me gather his remains.”

“Watch your larynx, you hussy.” The voice came from another modified Commanaga, this one with bee-like armour on his face and shoulders. His voice had a slight hiss to it. This was MechaHiver. “My friend died for your gambit and now there’s another one out there about to do the same. How can I be so sure you’ll actually value our sacrifice?” This last part was directed at Squideyasu.

“You’ll all be rebuilt once you’ve completed your tasks.”, the squid-like alien nodded. “Speaking of which, you have yours. The Yellow Ranger is en route to the fourth Dark Gear in the place called ‘Wales’. Take care of him.”

“Yes, my Lord.”, MechaHiver nodded before teleporting away.

* * *

** Larne, Ireland. **

The Rangers were approaching the Dark Gear, when it transformed into a Gearoid. Inside was MechaCorvon, a modified Commanaga with a beak-like prosthesis attached to his face. “I’m going to crush you, succeeding where MechaDragon failed.”, he declared nervously. “I hope that sounded intimidating.”, he said to himself.

“And you’ll fall trying, just like he did.”, Yuri said. “Zords, Combine!”

The Megazord formed, with Myron’s Zord as the right arm, Winda’s Zord as the left arm, Mila’s Zord as the right leg and Jiro’s Zord as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Take this.”, MechaCorvon declared as he fired the Gearoid’s laser. The Megazord blocked using the Eagle arm’s wings before blasting the weapon away from his robot with the Scorpion arm’s laser.

“Attack!”, Myron said as he hit the Gearoid with his arm, this time using a punching attack. Winda then did the same with her arm.

“Let’s end this.”, Yuri said as he prepared his Morpher for the finisher. “Cosmo Megazord Air Viper!” The left arm drew a crescent which the other arm launched at the Gearoid, destroying it.

“I’m sorry, MechaDragon.”, MechaCorvon whined as he was engulfed by the flames.

“That makes 3.”, Yuri said, doing a signal with his hand. “Let’s get to the fourth.”

* * *

** Gwent, Wales. **

Slash had landed on the ground and demorphed, making his way to the Dark Gear as a seemingly normal citizen. He had asked for directions and been greeted with an accent, that in his opinion, probably generated a lot of phlegm just saying ‘hello’. Nonetheless, he had found the Dark Gear. “This seems too easy.”, he said out loud. “There’s got to be a trap waiting. I’m not going in there.”

“Then I’ll come out.” MechaHiver appeared from inside the structure. “And you’re right, this is a trap.” He fired a bolt of energy from his staff at Slash.

Fortunately, Slash moved out of the way and morphed instantly. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He then engaged his opponent in close quarter combat. “Fish-23 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He fired a giant fish at MechaHiver, who was knocked back by the force. He then pulled out the pieces of his Cosmo Weapon. “Time to slice and dice.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” The Commanaga grabbed the blade section and began swinging it about menacingly. “This’ll teach you to fight me with marine life.”

“Thanks for forcing me to change my strategy.”, Slash commented. He simply aimed the handle at his opponent and pulled the trigger. This fired a laser from the hilt, which hit MechaHiver and knocked the blade out of his hand. Slash then jumped up, caught the blade and used it to behead his opponent. “Swiftly and with style.”, he commented. Then he saw Squideyasu standing in front of him, looking away. “Wow, two for the price of one. This is my lucky day.”, he thought.

But as he attached the pieces and approached his opponent, staying silent all the while, Squideyasu turned around and delivered a slash to his chest. “You fool, you can’t sneak up on me. I wanted to let you get close.”

“What do we do with this guy?”, Cha-ChaMari asked, indicating the decapitated body of MechaHiver.

“Pick up the pieces. We’ll repair him later.”, Squideyasu instructed. “As for this one, I’ve got a use for him.”

* * *

As the other Rangers landed in Gwent, they began to receive a signal on their Morphers. Then the image of Squideyasu appeared on a nearby screen. “ _This message is going out on all frequencies, aimed at the Power Rangers. I’ve managed to capture your friend Slash. I have him in the industrial district. If you don’t show up to discuss the terms of your surrender, he dies.”_ With that said, the message ended.

Yuri was worried, so he contacted the Commander. “Did you get that?”, he asked.

“ _Perfectly_.”, came the reply from the other end. “ _It’s clearly a trap. You need to try and avoid Squideyasu at all costs_.”

“But what about Slash?”, Mila asked. “Sure, he can be abrasive sometimes, but that’s no reason to consign him to that fate.”

“She’s right.”, was Myron’s input. “A good soldier never leaves a man behind.” He thought back to his own experience with his brother. “Not again.”

“We have to help him.”, Jiro urged. “The legend said we needed all nine to free the universe from Gingaku.”

“There’s a high probability of death if we continue on this path.”, Winda noted. “But there is an even higher probability that Slash will perish if we do nothing.”

“So it’s decided then.”, Yuri said. “We go and get our friend back, take out these two assassins, take out the Dark Gear and then go home. Right?”

“Right!”, the others said, putting their hands in a circle and then raising them.

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Scales went over to a human soldier. “Have you seen the Commander?”, he asked.

“No, she rarely shows up at all.”, the soldier responded. “And I’ve never been graced with her presence.”

“Not your Commander, ours. The Dragon guy.”, Scales clarified. “He went missing a few minutes ago and I haven’t seen him since.”

Suddenly, another human came running forward. “We have a problem. One of our light aircraft went missing and we’ve traced it to someplace called ‘Gwent’.”

Scales rubbed his chin. “Just what could the Commander be up to?”

* * *

Sometime later, the 5 Rangers had made their way to the industrial district of Gwent, where the two assassins were waiting for them. “So I see you were foolish enough to come to us after all.”, Cha-ChaMari snorted. “And not even the whole team, but a mere 5 of you.”

“Make that six.” Both assassins turned around to see Commander Drago approaching them. “I told you not to come here, Yuri. I wanted to handle Squideyasu myself.”

“Drago, my old friend.”, Squideyasu said semi-mockingly. “What do you hope to accomplish that these fools won’t be able to on their own?”

“I’m going to personally show you the fruits of our past labours, ‘old friend’.” He placed his staff on the ground and then reached into his pockets.

“What are they talking about?”, Mila asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m more concerned with what the Commander will do with that staff.”, Winda said in response.

After pulling the contents of his pocket out, the Commander opened the head of the staff, inserting a Cosmo Sphere with a dragon pattern. “Charge Up!” He closed the head of the cane, lifted it up and slammed it into the ground. This caused a surge of energy to flow throughout his body, which then formed a Ranger suit, purple with a dragon theme, to appear on his body. He also possessed black shoulders instead of the usual silver ones.

“No way.”, Myron exclaimed. “The Commander….”

“…just morphed.”, Yuri finished. “I can’t believe it either.”

“I see you finished your little idea without my help.”, Squideyasu stated as he pointed at the new Ranger. “But it’s no match for a real Gingaku warrior.”

“We’ll just see.”, Drago said as he swung his staff around. “I am the Dragon Ranger.” As he raised his staff into the air, purple smoke appeared behind him. He then zoomed forward at immense speed and engaged the two opponents in hand-to-hand combat. The fight was at first evenly matched, with neither side gaining the advantage. Then Drago took the chance to knock Squideyasu down, causing Cha-ChaMari to run to him. “Made you look.”

“I see you’re fairly strong.”, Squideyasu commented. “But can you outrun this?” He and Cha-ChaMari fired on the Dragon Ranger as he ran towards them.

Then his suit began sparking. “Oh no, not now.”, Drago moaned. He failed to notice that Cha-ChaMari had fired on him again, knocking him down. Then his morphing dispersed, with his Staff sparking. “The charger still needs some work, it seems.”, he said to himself.

“You can charge your creation all you like.”, Squideyasu stated as he kicked the fallen opponent. “You’ll still fall before me in a fight, just like before.”

Then Cha-ChaMari turned towards the other Rangers. “We’ll let you guys off of a beating now because it was too much fun fighting this loser.”

“But next time we meet, we won’t be so lenient.”, Squideyasu concluded. “We’ll be in the warehouse district.” With that said, he and his associate teleported out.

Yuri and Mila then went over to the fallen Commander. “Are you alright?”, Mila asked. “Where did you learn how to Morph?”

“I’ve got a better question.”, Yuri interjected. “What did Squideyasu mean when he called you ‘old friend’?”

Drago sighed. “We’ll have to get somewhere quiet for now. Then, I’ll tell all of you everything.”

* * *

“Wakey, wakey Yellow.” Slash came to to see Cha-ChaMari standing in front of him. “I was wondering when you’d get up. Now I can see your face when I suck the life out of you.” She then observed him closely. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

“Perhaps the octopus cannery.”, Slash commented. He then looked over to see a pair of Detainers in lab coats tinkering with his Cosmo Morpher. “What do your mindless goons intend to do with my Morpher?”

“That’s for us to know and for you to never find out.”, Squideyasu said as he entered the room. “And I think I do recognise you. Mervic Oregano, nicknamed ‘Slash’ for his unique form of cooking. He’s the manager of the renowned Hors’Dorado restaurant… or rather you were before you were reported speaking out against Gingaku.”

“I never spoke out against you…” Slash paused his thinking to come up with an appropriate response “tyrants. But after you shut me down, I just knew I had to take down your organisation for the benefit of others. Just as we’ve taken out your Dark Gears and your modified Commanagas.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my dear Mervic.”, Squideyasu waved his finger from side to side. “My assistant here has been able to reassemble those modified Commanagas. And I wouldn’t worry about your friends. Their next fight will be against two newly assembled and powerful warriors.”

As if on cue, two figures entered the room. Slash recognised them as the modified Commanagas, but they seemed misassembled. The first had MechaHiver’s body, MechaDragon’s head and MechaCorvon’s voice. The other had MechaCorvon’s body, MechaHiver’s head and MechaDragon’s voice. “Cha-ChaMari, we’ve got a bone to pick with you.”, the second of the two said.

“How could you reassemble us so terribly?”, the first of the two added. “It’s not like it’s so hard to tell our parts apart from each other’s.”

“I’m not a geneticist.”, Cha-ChaMari fumed. “You losers are lucky I even put you back together. If it were up to me, you’d be on the lunch table rather than the operating table.”

“Now, now. All of you shake hands and make up.”, Squideyasu commanded. “We’re about to face the Rangers once again in a decisive battle. And in order to triumph, we need to be on the same page in terms of teamwork. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”, everyone folded one arm and held it up, bowing their heads.

* * *

In an abandoned warehouse, the Rangers had holed up. “Alright, now we want answers?”, Yuri said to the Commander. “Where did you get that Cane-Morpher? And how do you know Squideyasu?”

Drago sighed. “I’ve been trying to keep this secret for a while. But now it seems like I’ve got no choice. It all began a few years ago.…”

* * *

**_ 5 Years Ago. _ **

_I was trying to research the true nature of the Cosmo Spheres, an old legend in my part of the galaxy. In my studies, I found that certain Spheres possessed the ability to transform chosen warriors into soldiers with immense power. I wanted to find out if this power could also be applied to less powerful Cosmo Spheres. That was when I met an investor on the planet Amalgamous._

_“So you see, that’s my proposal for a new fighting force.”, I said to him. “One that will bring peace, justice and security to the universe.”_

_But the investor was the man you know as Squideyasu. “It seems you might have something to your idea. All I need is to see proof of your idea working.”_

_I shrugged at this. “You see, about that, I haven’t been able to find a Cosmo Sphere for my experiments. But I have a lead on two. One in the Chameleon Nebula and one in the Scorpion Nebula. I’ll see if I can secure one of those two.”_

_Squideyasu wasn’t exactly pleased to hear me say that. “You’d better make quick work in procuring one of them. My organisation is very keen to get their hands on a Cosmo Sphere based transformation system. No proof, no funding.”_

_I knew I had to work quickly so I travelled to the Chameleon Nebula, in search of my first lead. I detected it on a low-level planet with a small population. I found what I was looking for, but I wasn’t the only one searching for it. I also encountered a young woman, humanoid, who was willing to turn a blade on me. Little did I know that I would soon be fighting with that woman as one of my greatest allies._

* * *

“Hold on”, Mila interjected. “That was me. In fact, I remember what happened back then.”

* * *

“ _What are you doing on this land, strange creature?”, I said angrily._

_“I could ask you the same question.”, came a reply I was not expecting to come. I assumed that this was a wild animal that had come to prey on the people of the village I came from. I had heard reports of such a beast roaming the woods and went to try and slay it. In my ninja academy, I was considered a troublesome rookie and thought that this beast’s hide would improve my standing. But I wasn’t prepared for the idea it was alive. “I was tracking the signature of this thing here.”, he said as he presented me with a globe hidden within one of the trees. As he held it close to me, it started to glow._

_Confused, I asked “What does this mean?”. Then the ‘beast’ spoke to me to explain things._

_“My name is Drago. I’m a visitor to this world from another system. I came here to take this item with me, but it seems that it wants to be with you. From what I’ve read, it is supposed to transform you into a warrior to defend the universe from a large scale threat. The most common term for it is a ‘Cosmo Sphere’”_

_“But how am I supposed to do that?”, I asked him. “My people are a simple culture. We receive many visitors, but none of us have developed space travel. Plus I don’t know how this ‘Cosmo Sphere’ works.”_

_“I assume you’ll figure that out.”, he told me. Then he handed me a communicator. “In case something happens, use this to contact me.” And then he was gone, leaving me with a strange new item to figure out._

* * *

“Will you stop telling my story?”, Drago said, slightly annoyed. “Anyway, with my search in the Chameleon Nebula a bust, I moved onto the Scorpion Nebula….”

“Where he ran into me and my brother.”, Myron said as he took over the story.

* * *

_We had heard of a fabulous treasure located on our planet, capable of granting one who is worthy great power. Many had tried to search for the treasure, and many had not returned. During our research, we encountered the Commander. We heard of what he knew of the Cosmo Spheres and noticed a correlation with our legends about the treasure. We concluded they were one and the same and came to an agreement: We would use his machinery to find the treasure and then communicate to him once we had found it. As you know, certain events prevented us from giving it to him, but when I tried to radio him, he claimed he was busy and redirected me onto Mila. And from there, I decided to carry on his work, locating the Cosmo Spheres throughout the galaxy._

* * *

“Can I just tell my story?”, the Commander fumed. “If one more person hijacks the tale, I might just scream.”

“Then Drago here discovered my true intentions.” Everyone turned around to see Squideyasu, accompanied by Cha-ChaMari and the two ‘Chimeranagas’, as they had been dubbed and Slash, still being held captive. “I was planning to take his plans for an army of warriors powered by the Cosmo Spheres and use it for Gingaku’s conquests. He protested and refused to help us. But we simply had him confined on Matoine and made a spectacle of his crimes as a warning to others. If only we’d known it would’ve galvanised this Chameleon native to begin gathering other Rangers into a fighting force.”

The Rangers realised that Squideyasu had arrived and all assumed fighting positions. Except for Yuri, who still had one question. “I can understand that Drago’s been working on his project for a while, and I can understand that he used one of the Cosmo Spheres Myron collected to test it. But what I want to know is ‘How did he come to be known as a Commander if he didn’t have any military rank?’.”

“You really think that’s a need-to-know question?”, Slash asked. “We’re all about to be destroyed here.”

“I can answer that.”, Mila chipped in. “On my planet, we’re taught from a young age to revere authority figures. Since I wanted to make a statement about Drago’s importance to the Rangers, I had him designated the Commander.”

“If that’s all you want to know, then you can say hello to your graves.”, Cha-ChaMari pointed her gun at the Rangers. “Get them.”

A fight broke out between both sides, with Drago sword fighting Squideyasu while most of the other Rangers engaged the Chimeranagas. Only Myron stayed out of the fight. He chose to go over to Slash, working to free him from his restraints. “Looks like the knife expert needs someone to show him the ropes for cutting.”, he snarked.

“Ha ha, just get me out of here.”, Slash said, slightly irritated.

But as Myron succeeded in cutting the ropes with his stinger, he saw Cha-ChaMari standing in front of the two of them, aiming her gun. “You losers won’t be going anywhere until you deal with me.”

“Challenge accepted.”, the two of them said as they engaged her in a fight.

* * *

Eventually, the battle between the two sides made its way outside, where the Chimeranagas knocked the Rangers back, but not down. “These are the guys that defeated us?”, the first of them said.

“They must’ve just got lucky.”, the second Chimeranaga concurred.

Squideyasu was also close to beating Drago in a sword fight. “Even if you can perfect your fake Ranger gear, you’re still no match for the might of a first generation Gingaku warrior.” He then pushed him back towards the other Rangers.

“You haven’t seen our best trick yet.”, Yuri said to the Chimeranagas. “It’s Morphing Time!”

“My Ranger powers may not be real, but my drive to defeat you is.”, Drago declared. “And that’s something that can’t lose.”

Suddenly, the Cosmo Spheres of the Rangers began glowing. “What’s happening?”, Jiro asked as he saw his blue Sphere become brighter.

“I have no idea.”, Winda said in response. “It must be some unknown greater power.”

Then Yuri went into a trance, speaking with a different voice to his usual one. One that was more deeper and had an echo effect. “ ** _The seven lights shall bring forth a new hope!”,_** the voice said as the lights flowed towards Drago’s Dragon-10 Cosmo Sphere, causing its globe component to go from clear to purple, before a beam was shot off into space. “ ** _The eleventh will arrive soon.”_** With that, Yuri snapped back to reality. “I’m sorry, what happened there?”

“You were acting really weird.”, Mila answered him. “It’s probably nothing to worry about.”

“I wouldn’t think it was nothing.”, Myron thought to himself. “It could have something to do with why Yuri can’t recall his past.”

It was then that Drago noticed his Cosmo Sphere had changed colour. “Whatever it’s done, it seems to have had an effect on my Cosmo Sphere. I should probably try it out.” He inserted it into his Staff and pressed down the dragon head. The others then inserted their Cosmo Spheres into their Morphers and pushed them forward. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Drago slammed his staff into the ground, while the others pulled their triggers. The Rangers were surrounded by energy, as was Drago. When it cleared, all 7 had transformed into Rangers, but Drago’s suit now possessed a long-coat and a gold variant of the Ranger belt. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Wow, that energy must have powered up your Cosmo Sphere using our energies.”, Winda suggested.

“You’ve become a real Power Ranger.”, Myron continued.

“What?”, Squideyasu said with outrage. “That can’t be. You got it to work?”

The Commander proceeded to strike a pose. “ Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

“Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

“Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

“Sting of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

“Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

“Bringing the Universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

Yuri pointed his Morpher at the two assassins. “7 against 2, you’re outnumbered.”, he said.

“I agree, let’s add more balance.”, Squideyasu said in response.

Cha-ChaMari snapped her fingers. “Get them, boys.”

The two Chimeranagas landed in front of them. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Mission start.”, Yuri said. Everyone readied their weapons and charged, with the two Chimeranagas doing likewise.

Drago zoomed past them towards Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari. “Let’s go for another round, shall we?”

“That new suit won’t help you.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she crossed swords with him. “We’ll still take you out.”

* * *

Inside the building, Yuri faced down the first Chimeranaga. “So they put you back together, huh? Well I don’t think they did a really good job.”

“That’s what I said.”, his opponent replied as Jiro and Winda got into position, firing at him.

Myron led the others in attacking the second one. “New look, same old routine.”, he said as the others continued their attack.

* * *

Outside, the newly-christened Dragon Ranger continued his fight. He dodged some of their attacks and defended against others. “Let’s see how she handles you.”, he said as he pushed Cha-ChaMari back with his cane. He then delivered a slash to the two of them, knocking them down. “It may be a knockoff, but it handles as good as the real thing.”

“I’ll give you that.”, Squideyasu said as he got up. “But you still needed to rely on your subordinates. I’m not seeing your true strength.” He and Cha-ChaMari fired on their opponent.

However, he was able to move to the side away from their blasts. “How tough is this guy?”, Cha-ChaMari asked as she fired again.

“Tough enough to take you clowns.”, he answered as he moved his handle up to convert his cane into a rifle. “Dragon Pulsar!” He fired his own blasts back at them, stopping the shots and knocking his opponents back. “And your bad news keeps on coming.” He fired more shots at the two, knocking them back with an explosion.

* * *

Yuri witnessed all of this from nearby. “Good job, but we’re not going to be outdone by the new guy.” He and his trio locked their weapons with Chimeranaga 1.

“You know it.”, Myron replied as he delivered a slash to Chimeranaga 2.

* * *

“This won’t be your victory, you losers!”, Cha-ChaMari declared as she ran towards the Dragon Ranger.

“Think again.”, Drago replied as he converted his Dragon Staff back into a sword and knocked her down with it.

“This is my chance.”, Squideyasu said as he pointed his gun at the duo. But Drago simply fired a beam from his staff which knocked him back.

* * *

Yuri and Myron knocked their respective opponents back into each other with another slash. “Let’s end this.”, the former said as he prepared his Morpher for the finisher. The others did likewise, aiming their weapons at the two. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” They fired their beams at the Chimeranagas.

“”Not again.”, the two cried out as they exploded.

Drago thrust his Staff into Cha-ChaMari, knocking her down. “You’re good, I’ll admit that.”, she said.

“You think I need you to admit that.”, he said.

“Believe me, I don’t compliment anyone.”, she wheezed out.

Drago then did a twirl around. “Glad to know I’m the first.”

“Why you!”, Cha-ChaMari practically snarled as she fired a series of projectiles from her body at him. He simply blocked them by twirling his staff, before dashing forward to push her outside from the force.

“Alright, time to end this.”, Drago said as he adjusted his handle once more. He then opened and closed the dragon head, charging it up. “Dragonic Break!”, he declared as he fired his beam of energy at Cha-ChaMari.

The beam hit Cha-ChaMari head on, mortally wounding her. “I got beaten by a noob. I guess I’m the loser now.”

“Yes, I believe you are.”, Drago commented as Cha-ChaMari went up in flames.

Squideyasu walked out to see the scene. “You fool. You’ll pay for this. Chimeranagas, grow!” The two Chimeranagas increased to giant size and fired on the assembled Rangers, knocking them to the side. “I’ll let them deal with you.” With that, he was gone.

“Let’s see if my new upgrade came with a Zord of its own.”, Drago said.

Everyone turned towards him in shock. “You really think it came with one?”, Jiro asked.

“I don’t see why it shouldn’t have.” Drago then opened and closed his staff’s head, pushing it forward and pressing the trigger. “Come forth, Dragon Zord!” Sure enough purple beams came down from the sky, darkening it and forming into a shape. “See, I told you.”

A Dragon Zord appeared, crashing through rocks and launching their debris at the Chimeranagas. The Commander then manifested a giant Cosmo Sphere around himself, which floated upwards into the hands of the giant robot. The now completed Dragon Zord flew in front of he moon towards its opponents. “Dragon Zord, attack!” The giant robot flew towards it’s opponents, tanking all their blasts as it approached. “Draco Breath!” The Dragon breathed fire at its opponents, before crashing into them. “Time to bring the crush.” The Drgaon Zord released its cockpit and then wrapped itself around the first Chimeranaga, blowing it to pieces before reuniting with the cockpit.

“You’ll regret that!”, the surviving Chimeranaga bellowed.

“I don’t think I’ll need to sweat it.”, the Dragon Ranger responded as he prepared his weapon for another finisher. “Draconic Zord Pulse!” The Dragon then flew closer to its opponent, crashing into him and blowing him up.

As if to make things harder, the final Dark Gear converted into a Gearoid and approached. “We’ll handle this bucket of bolts.”, Yuri radioed the Commander. Sure enough, the Megazord appeared with Yellow as the right arm, Pink as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Orange as the left leg. They walked forward and delivered some slashes to the Gearoid.

“Don’t forget about me.”, Jiro said as he attacked with the Wolf Zord. The Megazord them unleashed another slash to its opponent.

“I think we’ll let you help us finish this thing.”, Slash radioed to the Commander.

“Good idea.”, was the reply.

“Cosmic Dragon Arrow!” The Megazord used its arms to approximate a bow and arrow which then fired alongside the Dragon Zord’s beam to hit the Gearoid, destroying it.

“As they say, this Space is ours.”, Dragon Ranger declared as the environment returned to normal.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Dark Soul, Spectrum and Dr. Cerebron observed the events from a monitor. “So the Rangers have another member for their little party.”, Spectrum noted. “This could be fun.”

“Speak for yourself.”, Dark Soul responded. “I have to execute the Area Controllers for the United Kingdom, now they serve no purpose.” He went over to a table and slammed it. “How could they have gained a new member?”

“More to the point, what did Squideyasu do to my creations?”, Cerebron raged. “Not only did he reassemble them poorly, but he allowed them to be destroyed.”

Spectrum ignored this, instead focusing on Dark Soul’s question. “It seems that the Red Ranger has some unknown power within him. A power that allows the Rangers to combine their powers to create a new transformation Cosmo Sphere. Also something concerning an Eleventh Ranger. We should probably study this.”

“Oh, I’ll see to it that the Red Ranger’s power is known to us.” Dark Soul walked off and pulled out his sword. “And then I’ll see him dead for what he did to me.”

* * *

**Rebellion Camp, Earth**.

Everyone was celebrating the arrival of a new Ranger. With this extra power, we can stick it to Gingaku even more than before.”, Tarrant declared, to a thunderous cheering.

“A message from the Rebellion Commander.”, one of the soldiers called out. “She sends her support for the new Ranger and says we can spend the night celebrating.” Everyone cheered more.

Everyone that is, except for Myron. He was thinking about the day’s events. “Yuri has something strange about him. And I need to find out what it is, before Gingaku can get their hands on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is adapted from episodes 8 and 9 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The fact that Gingaku was trying to harness the power of Cosmo Spheres for transformative purposes will be revisited later. 
> 
> I didn’t realise there were 5 monsters instead of 3 in the source material, so rather than change my plans I devised the gag with Cha-ChaMari rebuilding them incorrectly.
> 
> All the Dark Gears are deliberately located in towns that are considered the worst places to live in the UK.


	8. The Little Bear That Could.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A newcomer comes to Earth from the Ursine Cluster, insisting that he is the newest Ranger. As Yuri tries to handle the troublesome child, one of the UK Area Controllers tries to exact revenge.

**Gingaku Brainworld.**

Mothimor was nervous. A few days ago, Squideyasu had told him and the three adjacent Area Controllers away for a supposed meeting with Gingaku himself. All of the Area Controllers were distinct. Mothimor himself had lanky arms with talons at the end and a head that consisted of orange, pink and green scales. He was dressed in an emerald green tunic, with black boots. His fellows consisted of a red, armoured female with insectoid features, a humanoid pig man with a second face on his chest and a creature with a mismatched face in a knight’s armour, that was rusted and had a cracked visor. However, instead of a meeting, they had been pulled into a locked room, where they had been forced to wait. “How much longer do we have to wait here?”, the insectoid asked. “We have humans to suppress.”

“I agree.”, the knight nodded. “A task that is especially necessary now that the humans have moved into outright rebellion against our rule. These Power Rangers are a problem we must be prepared for.”

“You’re too late for that.” All turned to see Dark Soul enter the room, accompanied by the figure known only as Spectrum. “While you were busy following the call, the Rangers attacked and destroyed all 4 of your Dark Gears. The areas you controlled are now under the control of the Earth Rebellion.”

“What?”, the pig man squealed. “How the pork did they manage to do that?”

“You got careless.”, Spectrum answered. “You fell for a feint to remove you and did nothing to leave your areas secured in the interim. You have failed Gingaku. And I’m sure you’re all aware of the price for an Area Controller that fails.”

“They get a reprieve if they promise to do better?”, the insectoid asked.

“No.”, Dark Soul said bluntly. “They are removed from the equation permanently.” He then raised his sword and slashed at the insectoid, killing her.

“And in case you don’t understand, that means all of you.”, Spectrum said before stabbing the knight with a stinger tale on his shoulder.

Mothimor began waving his long arms. “No wait. I have a useful skill that can help me defeat the Rangers.” He waved one arm, causing a console on the wall to switch on, input a complex calculation and then explode. “Give me another chance and I’ll personally bring you their heads.”

Dark Soul began scratching his chin. “Fascinating. If I let you go and take revenge, you only have to bring me one Ranger. The red one. We’ve noticed he has a strange power that could be useful to us.”

“Excellent.”, the pig man said. “So I assume you’re letting us go to carry out this mission.”

“Do you need or want his help?”, Dark Soul asked Mothimor.

“Not really, no.”

“Alright then.” The pig man soon met his end at the hands of Dark Soul’s blade and Spectrum’s stinger. “Don’t let us down, Mothimor. Or your reprieve will be temporary.”

“I won’t let you down.”, Mothimor said as he bowed.

* * *

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

In the Rangers’ specially dedicated area, Commander Drago called everyone to him. “Everyone, I’ve received a call from an old friend in the Ursine Nebula. His name is Tedros, but I call him ‘Teddy’.”

“So you’ve received a personal call from an old friend.”, Myron said, with some annoyance. “I’m glad for you, but can you try and call us only for important matters?”

“This is an important matter.”, Drago replied. “He’s asking me for help.” He then pulled out a remote and pressed a button. A screen displayed the image of a bear-like humanoid, wearing a similar outfit to the Commander.

 _“Drago, my friend. Word on the grapevine is that you’ve escaped from the prison Gingaku threw you into and led your new team of Power Rangers in making progress in liberating the planet Earth. I’d love to give you more details about my exploits, but I’ve not got long before Gingaku finds my position and shuts me down. Since I last saw you, I’ve taken possession of a displaced child. A few days ago, he said that he had to go to Earth, but I said ‘no’. The next day, he was gone, along with a small travel capsule. I think you can guess where he went. See if your Rangers can locate him and bring him back to me. Good luck_.” Then Teddy gave a thumbs up and the video ended.

Jiro was still doubtful. “I don’t know, we’re kinda on a mission here. You know, saving the universe from evil samurai.”

“You really think that Gingaku will let a random kid walk about?”, Slash pointed out.

Yuri nodded. “He’s got a point. I haven’t seen any children since we came to Earth, like anywhere.”

“Maybe they've been taken away into gingerbread houses to be eaten.”, Mila said in a mock-scary tone. Everyone just gave her a blank stare. “I’ve been reading up on the local literature.”, she said sheepishly.

“Well whatever the reason for the lack of children, we can’t let Teddy’s kid suffer the same fate.”, Drago stressed. “Everyone, move out!”

“Ok.”, everyone said doing a salute. They then ran outside, morphing as they went through the flap. “Summon Zords.” Everyone summoned their respective Zords and set off in separate directions.

“If the travel capsule has indeed arrived on Earth, we will have to scan for a small craft.”, Winda informed them. “And in order to find it quicker, we will have to split up and cover the entire globe.”

“That sounds like a plan.”, Scales radioed back. “But there are more Rangers than there are continents. How do you intend to handle that?”

“We put some of the Rangers into one group.”, Tarrant suggested. “You and Cobras already work really well together, so I thought I’d join you guys like last time.”

“If that’s decided, then let’s just go.”, Yuri said. “If one of us runs into trouble, signal for help.”

“Ok.”, the others said as they continued on their paths.

* * *

** Duisburg, Germany. **

A pair of Commanagas came face to face with Mothimor. “Who are you?”, the Commanaga of higher rank asked. “Where’s the Controller?”

“I’ve taken control from the controller.”, Mothimor answered him. “Not without bloodshed, I might add.”

“Why you.” The Commanaga tried firing a missile at the newcomer, only for it to stop in midair, fly back and hit him, destroying him.

“Does anyone else concur with him?”, Mothimor asked the assembled troops. None of them did. “Good. It’s nice to know everyone believes in keeping their heads down. Now then, are there any matters to attend to?”

“Just one, sir.”, the other Commanaga said in response. “A travel capsule from the Ursine Nebula crashed within the limits of the city. The inhabitant appears to be a human child.”

“What would a human child be doing coming from the Ursine Nebula?”, Mothimor asked. “It doesn’t matter. We all know the orders concerning children. Let’s go.”

* * *

In the skies, Yuri was observing the scans of the area on his Morpher. “According to this, there’s something saturated in Cosmic Energy in this area. Two somethings in fact. And one of them’s on the move. I’d better check it out.” He leapt out of his Zord and landed on the ground, where he saw Detainers attacking a child. “So much for there being no children around here. I’d better help him.” He went over to the Detainers wielding his Cosmo Saber. He knocked away a few of the Mooks with the weapon, before inserting his Cosmo Sphere onto it. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He released a wave of energy at the Detainers, causing them to be teleported away surrounded by fire. Yuri then demorphed and went over to the kid. “Hey, are you alright?”

The kid merely pushed him away. “I’m fine.”, he said rudely. “You could’ve shown up sooner, so I wouldn’t even be in that mess.”

“Geez, where’s the ‘thank you’ for saving your ungrateful hide?”, Yuri retorted. “Did you even think before you ended up in that situation?”

“I didn’t expect the Detainers to react to my presence.”, the kid replied. “I don’t really know a lot about this planet. I just got here from Ursarus XII.”

“‘Ursarus’?” Yuri thought about this for a minute and then realised. “Are you Tedros’…?”

“Yeah, he’s been my dad for the last couple of years. You can call me Barry.”, the kid responded. “My parents were from Earth, but I got separated from them during a deportation through space by Gingaku and ended up in Tedros’ care. All this was 10 years ago. But since years are a lot slower outside of Ursarus, it’s only been 5 outside.”

Yuri got down on his knees. “So you’ve been trapped far from home, not knowing of your true origins? I know the feeling. But what brought you to run away from Teddy to come here?”

Barry held out a Cosmo Sphere, bearing the image of a bear and the number “11”. “I heard a voice from across space. It told me to come to Earth and fight for the universe. Then a light hit me and when I woke up, I had this.” Then he put his hands together in a prayer position. “Can you show me how to use this?”

Suddenly, Mothimor’s voice echoed throughout the area. “ _I’m sorry, but you’re both going to have to be captured._ ” A car came towards them, with the voice echoing over the radio. “ _My superiors have big plans for you, Red Ranger. And the little brat will be going with me to where others like him all go.”_ The car then accelerated towards them.

“Jump!”, Yuri yelled as he and Barry did so. “Let’s get out of here.” The two made a run for it.

* * *

From the Dark Gear, Mothimor laughed. “They can run, but they won’t be able to hide for very long. I’ll make sure of that myself.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri and Barry had holed up in the sewers, with the former communicating his discoveries to the others. “This Area Controller seems like he can control machines from afar.”

“ _He must be from the Eagle Galaxy, where I was built._ ”, Winda communicated. “ _The inhabitants of that area of space are quite adept with machines.”_

“ _Unfortunately, we can’t all provide you with backup._ ”, Myron radioed. “ _Winda and I are too far away to make it in time. For now, we’ll just try to make it back to base_.”

“ _In the meantime, the rest of us will make our way to you._ ”, Mila informed him. “ _But until we get there, you’re on your own_.” With that, everyone signed off.

Barry took advantage of this to nudge Yuri again. “Ok, we know your friends are on their way. Now can you teach me to use my ball?”

“It’s called a Cosmo Sphere.”, Yuri informed him. “And if you want it to react, then you need to show willingness to do the right thing, without hope, without witness, without reward.”

Barry began to think. “So, I need to find the drive to do the right thing on my own.”, he said. “That might be tricky.”

Suddenly, Mothimor’s voice echoed throughout the sewers. “ _I know you’re in there Ranger, so I’ll be tactless. You can come out of there willingly, and I may be lenient to you, or you can stay in there and let us hunt you down. It’s your choice.”_

Barry was about to leave, but he was stopped by Yuri. “It’s me he wants. You’re just an aberration in his plan. If I give myself up to him, he might leave you alone.”

“I can’t just let you face him alone.”, Barry protested. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have to give yourself up. You came out here to rescue me.”

“And that’s what I’m doing.”, Yuri told him. “I was told to make sure you were safe and that’s what I’m doing.” With that said, he walked off, leaving the child behind.

* * *

On the surface, Yuri came face-to-face with Mothimor and his group of 6 Detainers and 1 Commanaga. “Well, here I am. You want whatever’s in my head? Take it.”

Mothimor laughed at this. “Excellent. I’m going to look forward to torturing both of- Hey, where’s that kid that was hanging out with you earlier?”

“He’s far from here.”, Yuri said with conviction. “You’re not going to find him.”

As he finished saying this, Barry came running forward and thrust himself in front of Mothimor. “Take me. Yuri’s just trying to keep me safe, let him go and take me.”

Mothimor thought for a minute. “Hmm, let me think… no. I’ll just go back to me original plan to capture you both.” He advanced towards the two, arms outstretched.

But before he could grab them, Yuri’s eyes glowed red again and the mysterious voice from before rang through the air. “ ** _You shall not harm the eleventh_**.” A wave of energy flew forward, knocking Mothimor back and giving Barry another Cosmo Sphere, depicting a bigger bear and bearing the number “22”. “ ** _The circle is complete._** ”, the voice said before Yuri regained consciousness. “What happened?”, he asked.

“I think I got some kind of power from… I don’t know what.”, Barry answered him. He clicked the “11” Cosmo Sphere into position, with a Cosmo Morpher appearing on his arm. “What does this mean?”

“You’re one of us now, kid.”, Yuri told him. “Just follow my lead.” He slid his Sphere into position and inserted it into his Morpher when it appeared. “It’s Morphing Time!” Barry followed his directions, as instructed. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Both yelled as they pushed their Spheres forward. In a flash, the two were morphed, with Barry’s Ranger suit being coloured sky blue with a bear motif and a scarf around his shoulders.

“The brat’s a Ranger?”, Mothimor cried out in shock.

“Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“Let’s put this moth in the scrapbook.”, Yuri declared as he ran forward with his Saber.

“Definitely.”, Barry said as he clenched his fists. The two ran into the battle, with Yuri getting in a few slashes against the Detainers, while Barry knocked more away with his scarf. Yuri then found himself face to face with the Commanaga.

Mothimor watched from the side and came to a decision. “I did not sign up for this.”, he said as he generated wings and flew off.

“Oh no you don’t.”, Barry called out. He flung his scarf at the Area Controller, stopping him before he could leave the area. While he did this, Yuri finished off his opponents with his Cosmo Saber.

“Time for me to get in there.”, Yuri’s aid as he prepped a Cosmo Sphere. “Lizard-39 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” Yuri fired a beam, which created an image that crashed into him. Yuri ran over to a nearby pole and climbed up it to reach Mothimor, slashing him down.

“Let’s see what this thing can do.”, Barry said as he pulled out his other Cosmo Sphere. “Bear-22 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” The power of this Cosmo Sphere allowed Barry to grow to a giant size, much to Mothimor’s horror. “Let’s go for a round, small fry.”

“Perhaps we can cut a deal.”, Mothimor suggested as he dodged the giant Ranger’s footsteps that could break the tarmac.

“I don’t think so.”, Barry said as he caught up with Mothimor and punched him backwards.

As Mothimor got up, Yuri prepped his final attack, along with Barry who had returned to normal size. “Double Star Blast!” Their beams of energy converged and hit Mothimor, surrounding him with energy.

“This moth has been clipped.”, the Area Controller declared as he was surrounded by fire. But he survived. “Or not.”

Yuri then went over to the Area Controller. “Alright buddy, I want answers. Who told you to go after me?”

“I’ll never tell you.”, Mothimor declared as he leapt inside the nearby Dark Gear. “Gearoid, activate!” The Dark Gear transformed.

As if on cue, Tarrant, Slash, Mila and Jiro appeared in their Zords, firing on the Gearoid. “Sorry we’re late for the party.”, the latter of the 4 said.

“Are you kidding? It looks like we made it on time.”, Tarrant responded.

Slash was next to give his comment. “That is if our leader can get up here.”

“What do you say, Yuri?”, Mila asked. “You up for this?”

“You know it.”, Yuri answered her, prepping himself. “Summon Lion Zord!” The Lion Zord appeared and flew up to join the others. “Zords, combine.”

On the ground, Barry saw Scales and Cobras coming towards him. “Hey kiddo, you’re a Ranger too?”, the former asked.

“This is most unexpected.”, Cobras added. “We will have to speak with your father concerning this arrangement.”

* * *

The Megazord formed with Black as the right arm, Yellow as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Blue as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

The Megazord stood against Mothimor’s Gearoid. “Alright bug-face, you’re going down.”, Yuri declared.

“Give it your best shot.”, Mothimor replied.

“You know it.”, Yuri responded. The Megazord crossed swords with the Gearoid, pushing the enemy robot back. This continued with both sides pushing at each other, neither gaining the advantage. Mothimor was buffeted but the force of the impact. “Ok, switch.”

The Megazord swapped limbs again, with Yellow in its usual place as the right arm, Green as the left arm, Black as the right leg and Blue as the left leg. “Time for some extra power.”, Yuri said as he inserted a new Cosmo Sphere and activated it. The Gearoid fired a beam at its opponent, which was deflected by the new power-up, before launching itself at the Gearoid, causing it to crackle with electricity.

“Eject!”, Mothimor cried as he flew out of the exploding Gearoid.

* * *

Mothimor landed on the ground, where the 8 Rangers approached him. “Alright, I still want those answers.”, Yuri said as all the Rangers aimed their Morphers at him. “Now.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll talk.”, Mothimor said as he waved his arms about. “The guy who sent me is someone called ‘Dark Soul’. He’s Gingaku’s right-hand man. He wanted to take that power you have that created the Dragon Ranger. But I think that he already had a vendetta against you.”

“Who is this ‘Dark Soul’? Where did he come from?”, Mila asked.

“He wears a mask constantly. I don’t know where he comes from, only the higher up members of Gingaku know that. But I saw him without his mask once and he looked like he came from….” Before he could finish that sentence, Mothimor was slashed by a figure from behind. A figure in a black tunic with a golden mask.

“You must be Dark Soul.”, Slash realised.

“He was a disappointment from beginning to end.”, Dark Soul said of his slain comrade. Then he turned towards Yuri. “Yuri Michaels, you and I are going to meet again, on the field of battle. And when that happens, you will fall by my hand. But for now, this Space is yours.” With that said, he walked off, leaving everyone confused.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Squideyasu burst into Dr. Cerebron’s lab. “I’m going to need another assistant drone, now.”

“As you wish, my friend.”, Cerebron said as a machine in the back of the room whirred to life. The doors to the machine opened, revealing an exact copy of Cha-ChaMari.

But this one had a different temperament to the original, bowing before Squideyasu. “I live to serve you, my Lord.”, she said.

“Is there anything else you desire?”, Cerebron asked.

“Actually, yes.”, Squideyasu answered after a few seconds of thinking. “I want access to the Terrorvore.”

The other two were shocked by this. “But my Lord, the Terrorvore is forbidden for access to even you.”, Cha-ChaMari said. “Lord Gingaku has decreed it personally.”

“I don’t care.”, came the response. “The Rangers humiliated me once. There is no greater insult to a Gingaku clansman. I will have my revenge, even if I have to defy my Lord doing so.”

Dr. Cerebron laughed at this. “I like your style. I’ll give you access to the Terrorvore, off the record of course.”

“Good.”, Squideyasu stated as he began to cackle maniacally. “Next time I face the Rangers, it will be their end.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Commander Drago was calling his friend Teddy again. “ _Ah, so I see my charge has become a Ranger all on his own. Highly intriguing.”_

“Yeah, it’s the second time this week.”, Drago replied.

Barry stepped forward, with an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry I ran away, do I have to come back immediately?”

Teddy thought about it for a minute. “ _Well, since you’ve been brought into the fight to protect the universe, I don’t see why you can’t join them. At least for a trial period.”_

Barry quickly became happy. “Oh thank you, Big Bear.”

“ _Don’t mention it._ ” Teddy responded. “ _But I want you back after a few days._ ” With that said, he signed off and the screen went blank.

Drago then turned towards the other Rangers. “Well Barry, since you’ll be with us for a few days, I’ll introduce you to the rest of….” Then he noticed one prominent absence. “Where’s Myron? I want to introduce our newest teammate to everyone.”

“He said he had something to tend to.”, Winda answered. “He didn’t say what.”

* * *

In another part of the camp, Pamela was finishing up for the night, when she heard her tent flap shaking. “Who is it?”, she asked.

Her question answered itself when Myron entered her tent. “I think I know what’s wrong with our mutual friend Yuri.”

Pamela was shocked at first. “You’re -”, but she quickly composed herself. “What’s wrong with Yuri?”

“There’s some strange presence inside him.”, Myron responded. “And I need your help finding out what it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 10 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Mothimor was meant to just be another Area Controller, but I fell in love with the idea of expanding on the ones that got called away in the last chapter. On the other hand, his (tenuous) connection to Winda was planned from the start. 
> 
> The other executed Area Controllers are reuses of Beevil from Ninja Storm, Hamhock from Jungle Fury and Knight Bot from RPM.
> 
> While unnamed in the story, the Cosmo Sphere Yuri uses to destroy the Gearoid is Defend-24.
> 
> Mothimor killing the second Commanaga was not meant to match up with any footage. It was pure blind luck.


	9. Squideyasu Strikes Back, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squideyasu prepares for his final showdown with the Rangers while Yuri is confronted with a face from his past.

** Planet Earth, Orion-Cygnus Arm. **

Dark Soul was walking through an alleyway in Corona City, when he saw Squideyasu approaching him. “I thought you left this planet because the Rangers proved too much for you to handle.”, the former mocked.

“That’s funny, I thought you left this planet long before I ever touched it.”, was Squideyasu’s response. “As a matter of fact, I left to prepare for a strategy that would put paid to those Rangers.”

Dark Soul was now intrigued. “What does this plan involve? Can you get it up and running soon?”

Squideyasu walked right up to his comrade’s face. “Actually, the main element of my plan is you, my friend. And I’m sure you’re going to like the details very much.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

“What?”, Gingaku bellowed. He was in a conference with Spectrum, appearing to the minor minion via a hologram.

“It’s exactly as I told you.”, Spectrum responded. “Not only has Dark Soul gone back to Earth, but Squideyasu has taken the Terrorvore with him. For what purpose he has chosen to defy your decree, I don’t know sire.”

“Both of them will suffer for this defiance.”, Gingaku swore. “But for now, I want you to go to Earth and oversee their conduct. If they should fail in their endeavours, you will send them back here to answer for their defiance of my will.”

“And what of Dr. Cerebron?”, Spectrum asked. “He was the one in charge of the Terrorvore, so he was also responsible for its removal.”

“Until a full report is given, he shall be left to his own devices.”, came the answer. “After all, his is an intellect too valuable to lose.”

“Understood, my Lord.” With that, Spectrum left the room, thinking to himself “Prepare yourself for a reunion, my dear Myron. Your past is about to come back to haunt you.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

In his tent, Myron was working on a project when he was interrupted by the arrival of their temporary new recruit Barry. “Hey Myron, whatcha working on?”, the kid asked.

Myron sighed. “Since you’re here, I’m not working on anything anymore.”, he said, putting the objects in his hands down. “But I was trying to work on figuring out how to create our own Cosmo Spheres.”

Barry became curious. “Oh wow, that’s cool. Where’d you get the idea to do that?”

“Actually, it was my brother’s.”, came the reply. “He theorised that the Cosmo Spheres must’ve come from someone, so it must’ve been a matter of creating them from available materials. Since I managed to collect a few on the planet I spent two years on, I’ve been studying their composition and energy readings so I can try and replicate it myself.”

Before the conversation could continue in any direction, the two were interrupted by a call from outside. “Power Rangers, come out! Wherever you are!”

“We’d better comply.”, Myron said to the kid. “Who knows what this guy will do to the people in this camp if we don’t listen.”

* * *

The Rangers gathered outside, along with a few of the people in the camp. The person who had delivered the ultimatum was a middle-aged man, black-haired, wearing a black trench coat and hat. “Alright, we came just like you wanted.”, Yuri called back to him. “What do you want to tell us?”

“I’ll ask the questions.”, Commander Drago insisted. “Now then, what do you want to tell us?”

“I come with the word of Squideyasu.”, the man responded, speaking with a monotone voice. “The Power Rangers are being called out to a final confrontation with him, in which they will finally have met their match.”

“And what do we have to lose if we don’t show?”, Mila asked.

The man held out his hand, which was holding a tiny device. He switched the device on, showing a man, brutally beaten and ragged, chained to a wall. “If you fail to appear, than this one’s life is forfeit in your place.”

Yuri was shocked to see the image. “It’s him, the guy from my dreams.”

“Gregory.”, Pamela called out from within the crowd. “He’s still alive.”

“Not for much longer, if you fail to appear for your scheduled doom.” With that said, the man turned off his hologram and walked away.

“The majority of my calculations suggest that this is a trap.”, Winda stated. We can’t all go on this mission.”

“I agree.”, Drago nodded. “I’ll take a strike team to face this threat while the rest stay here and help the Rebellion move out of this location.”

“I guess we’ll be using his roulette wheel again.”, Cobras sighed.

“Exactly.”, Drago declared as he pulled it out of his jacket. “Everyone put your Cosmo Spheres into the wheel. The first 5 to come out will go out in the field.”

The other Rangers sighed as they did exactly what they were told. The Commander spun the wheel until 5 Spheres came out. These included his own, Myron’s, Slash’s, Tarrant’s and Barry’s. “This doesn’t seem like the best lineup.”, Tarrant commented.

“He’s right.”, Slash concurred. “What if we need to use the Megazord? We can’t do that unless Yuri is with us.”

“You’re forgetting about my Dragon Zord.”, Drago pointed out. “It’s as powerful as the Megazord on its own and I’m sure there’s more to it’s power.”

“It’s probably for the best that Yuri doesn’t come along with us.”, Myron added. “With their hostage being his friend, it could be a problem if he gets distracted.”

“Can we just go already?”, Barry asked impatiently. “I can’t wait to beat this bad guy senseless.”

“The kid has a point.”, Myron noted. “We should go.”

As the away team left, Scales asked the question on everyone’s minds. “So, what do we do now?”

“We were told to help these people evacuate.”, Winda answered. “I’m sure Yuri can - Where is Yuri?”

“He ran off after he wasn’t picked for the strike team.”, Jiro answered. “Can’t think why.”

“I can.”, Cobras countered. “He thinks that he can find and free his friend from Gingaku’s captivity by himself.”

Mila fumed. “The idiot… Scales, with me. We have to stop him from getting himself killed.”

* * *

On the road to Corona City, Yuri ran along the path. “Hang on, Gregory. I’m going to save you.”, he thought to himself.

* * *

In the city itself, the old man was speaking with Cha-ChaMari. “The bait is in place and the Red Ranger is springing his half of the trap. Now we need you to spring the other half on the other Rangers.”

“The Terrorvore is in place.”, Cha-ChaMari reported back. “I’ve also thrown in another surprise for those Rangers when they arrive. They won’t know what hit them.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Drago’s team had stopped in the city, having realised something. “We weren’t actually told where to go, we’re we?”, Slash pointed out.

“We weren’t.”, Myron answered him. “Which just means that for now, we’re stuck walking in circles.”

“Then allow me to railroad you onto the right path.” Everyone turned to see Cha-ChaMari standing there with a group of hostages. “We can’t let you get lost now, can we?”

Everyone was confused and annoyed by the new arrival. “Cha-ChaMari! I thought we blew you apart once.”, Drago said angrily

“Ah, you must be referring to my predecessor.”, was Cha-ChaMari’s response. “You see, I am one of a series of drones that can be produced from clone matter at a moment’s notification in order to serve the warriors of Gingaku. The only way to distinguish us is the personality of each individual unit.”

“Huh, I thought you were acting nicer to us than before.”, Myron realised.

“Believe me, it won’t be long-lived.” Cha-ChaMari threw a set of Detainers helmets into the air, where they fell onto the hostages, turning them into Detainers. “Take care of them.”

The Detainers ran forward towards the Rangers, who engaged them all in combat. The Rangers were mostly able to make quick work of their opponents, except for Barry, who was having some struggle. “I’d better make a big impact.”, he said as he pulled out his Bear-22 Cosmo Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher as it manifested. “Plus Up!”, he called out as he pushed it backwards in his Morpher. In an instant, he was in his Ranger suit, being enlarged to giant size. “Let’s dance, small fries.” He stepped all around, sending the Detainers flying and surprising the others present.

“Did you know he could do that?”, Tarrant asked.

“This is the first I’ve heard about it.”, Myron responded.

“It seems there are more Rangers than last time.”, Cha-ChaMari noted as the last of the Detainers was teleported out, surrounded by fire. “But it won’t do you much good against our plans.” She pressed a button on a device, causing the ground to rumble.

“What’s happening?”, Slash asked as he was buffeted by the shockwaves. As if on cue, a humanoid worm-like creature, with a mouth covering its facial area, with long tendrils for arms.

“Rangers, say hello to the Terrorvore, the deadliest predator in the universe and a distant cousin of the Hadaruga.”, Cha-ChaMari declared. “He’s going to be your downfall.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri had found the place where he was sure Gregory was being held, which he confirmed with the presence of the old man standing watch nearby. Before he could do anything else, he was stopped by Mila and Scales. “What do you think you’re doing?”, the former reprimanded him. “We were told to stay at the base and help relocate everyone.”

“I can’t just leave him.”, Yuri urged. “I might not remember Gregory, but I’m sure he remembers me.”

Scales was confused. “You know this guy? How?”

“We were on the same space mission when Gingaku took over. I’ve been having dreams about it and he’s right there with me. I think Gregory could be the key to unlocking my missing memories.”

Mila sighed at this. “Alright, fine. We’ll help you get your friend out.”

“But how are we going to get past that guy?”, Scales asked as he indicated the old man. “What’s to stop him turning around at an inopportune moment?”

Mila smiled. “That my friend, is where you come in.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers were still facing down the Terrorvore. “Well, if this is the universe’s deadliest predator, then let’s show him we’re more than just prey.”, Drago said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. “Gentlemen, what do you say?”

The others nodded as they pulled out their own Spheres. “It’s Morphing Time!” All of them then inserted their Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” In a flash, everyone was now morphed.

Cha-ChaMari merely scoffed at this. “I’m sure I can even the odds a bit. Gaku Zone, activate!” In a flurry of colours, the Rangers and the Terrorvore were teleported to a cornfield. But the Rangers were undeterred, proceeding to do their role call.

“Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

“Sting of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

“Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

“Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

The Terrorvore was unimpressed, merely charging at Barry mindlessly. But Barry and Myron ducked out of the way, with the other three engaging the worm head on. Tarrant hit the Terrorvore with a flurry of punches, before throwing it to the ground. Slash then kicked it further.

“It’s my turn now.”, Drago’s aid as he twirled around, before aiming his Dragon Staff. “Rifle Mode!” He fired at the Terrorvore, causing it to cower in fear, before digging underground.

“You’re not going anywhere.”, Barry said as he inserted his Bear-22 Sphere again. “Plus Up!” The now giant Sky Ranger reached into the ground and began pulling until he threw the Terrorvore into the air, just as his growth wore off. “What do you think of that, Myron?”

“Not bad.”, was Myron’s reply as he brandished his Cosmonata. “But let a pro show you how it’s done.” He charged at the worm, delivering a slash to its chest. The creature continued to attack Barry, with Myron taking the chances given to attack it. Then the two Rangers leaped towards the Terrorvore headfirst, knocking it down.

The Rangers then regrouped. “Let’s finish this thing off.”, Drago declared as he prepped his Staff for a finishing move, the other Rangers doing likewise with their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy Dragon Blast!” The 5 beams all hit the Terrorvore, causing it to explode. “It’s over.”

“ _Not quite._ ”, Cha-ChaMari’s voice echoed. A much larger, less humanoid Terrorvore emerged from the ground. “ _All you defeated was a modified clone. The real Terrorvore is much more difficult to overcome.”_

“You seem to forget what we have at our disposal.”, Drago yelled back as everyone prepped to summon their Zords, except Barry. The area once more became a moonlit wasteland, as the Dragon Zord appeared. Myron, Slash and Tarrant then summoned their own Zords to assist. “Dragon Fire!” The Dragon Zord unleashed a stream of flames at the Terrorvore, as did the other Zords with their lasers. However, the worm was undeterred, knocking Yellow away and capturing the Dragon with its body.

“Hang in there.”, Myron said as he fired his laser at the worm, causing it to move its head to where Tarrant could hit it. But the worm knocked the bull away. “Barry, we could use a little help.”

“What?”, Barry asked as he looked at his Morpher. “Could I really summon a Zord?”

“I don’t see why not.”, Myron answered him.

“Ok.” Barry pushed his Cosmo Sphere to the left, before firing. A large truck, resembling a bear with a smaller bear sitting on top. “Docking now.” Barry conjured a giant Cosmo Sphere, which attached to the back of the truck. “Bear Zord, fire!” The Zord unleashed a beam that hit the Terrorvore’s face, injuring it substantially. “Alright. Now let’s see what this thing can do.” The smaller bear detached as a separate drone on a wheel, using the wheel to slash at the worm’s body, causing it to assume a more humanoid shape, akin to its smaller counterpart.

The Dragon Zord had been released by his transformation. “Let’s see if we can make a Megazord ourselves.”, Drago suggested.

“Ok.”, Barry and Myron saluted.

“Engaging linkup, now.” Drago opened and closed the head of his Staff, before pulling the trigger. The Dragon released its cockpit, with the helmet coming off and the rest of the body folding in half. The Dragon cockpit went into the centre of this formation, while the Bear Zord went onto the right and the Scorpion Zord went to the left. A head emerged from the top of this, which the dragon helmet landed on top of. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!” The newly-formed robot faced down the Terrorvore. “I knew the Dragon Zord had this power.”, Drago said.

“Wow, I’m part of a Megazord.”, Barry said excitedly, as the Megazord prepped for battle. It then charged at the Terrorvore, getting ina few hits, while also taking a few. The Terrorvore caught the left limbs of the robot in its tendrils. “Get off us, you worm.”, Barry said as he punched the monster backwards. The Megazord then posed again, before the worm resumed its attack, which was deflected by a kick. “Maybe we should try purifying this with holy water?”, Barry joked.

“I like that idea.”, Myron said in utter seriousness. He pulled out a Cosmo Sphere and slid it into position, before inserting it. “Water-28 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” The Scorpion arm fired a jet of water at the Terrorvore, causing it to spark.

“Begin final attack.”, Drago declared as he opened and closed his Staff. “Dragon Star Blaster!” The Bear arm fired a laser at the Terrorvore, destroying it. This caused something to fall out of the explosion as the Gaku Zone dispersed.

“What’s that?”, Myron asked before jumping down to look at it.

“It looks like a Cosmo Sphere.”, Tarrant said “helpfully”.

“I can see that.”, Myron responded. The Cosmo Sphere had an image of a boat on it and was numbered “88”. “But what does it do?”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you find out.” Everyone was shot back by Cha-ChaMari, who grabbed the Sphere. She was hit with images of stars and planets, but brushed it off. “A pity about the Terrorvore, he was the last of his kind. But while I may not have defeated you, I’m sure my Master will defeat your friend Yuri.”

“What?”, everyone said with shock.

* * *

Elsewhere, the old man was continuing his vigil over the human. He was about to turn around and check on Gregory, he was distracted by a voice. “Yo, whaddup bro?” He turned around to see...

“You’re that robot that’s also the Gold Ranger.”, the man said. “Weren’t you given an ultimatum to meet with Squideyasu?”

“Well, you see, I don’t actually know where the battle site we agreed upon is. So I went to look for it, and it was only after a while that I noticed no-one had followed me. And I didn’t really remember the way I’d come on my own, since I was acting randomly. I’ve always been a kind of random guy, ever since the day I was…”

As Scales continued on, Mila dispelled her camouflage abilities behind the man. “Good thing I can share my cloaking powers with others.”, she whispered to Yuri. “Now then, we just need to make our way over there and get your friend out as quietly as possible.”

Yuri nodded. Then the two made their way over to the pole where Gregory was tied up. They then pulled out the blade tips from their Cosmo Weapons and used them to cut through the chains. “Are you alright?”, Yuri whispered to him.

“I’m fine.”, Gregory responded in a low volume. “They had me out in space for a few years, but I’ve been brought back here now.” Then he looked at the face of his rescuer. “Yuri, is that you?”

“No time to explain, we have to go.”, Yuri hissed.

“… and even after I’d made a lot of upgrades to my battle armour, the other droids on my planet still turned me down. I just wanted a chance to show them I had what it takes to be useful. So when Gingaku attacked…”

The old man stopped him. “You’ve served your role as the distraction remarkably well, my friend. But your friends can’t hide that they’ve just saved their friend from me.” He then turned into Squideyasu, who pressed a button. Behind them, Gregory was teleported away. “I knew what you were planning, because I anticipated what you would do in the situation I had presented to you.”

Yuri was shocked. “You mean… this was all a trap for us?”

“Why you!”, Mila declared as she ran towards Squideyasu, only to be stopped by a new arrival.

It was Dark Soul. “You don’t think you’re the only ones that believe in working together?” He pointed his sword at Yuri. “Red Ranger, you and I have a score to settle.” He ran towards Yuri, proceeding to slash at him with his sword, in addition to various punches and kicks.

“Yuri!”, Scales yelled out. He tried running past Squideyasu, only to be tripped up. “How did you -?”

“There is nothing that escapes me”, was the answer given. “Your friend included.” He pulled out his weapon and fired on a still struggling Yuri. “Not so tough now, are you Red Ranger?”

“He’s always been a coward.”, Dark Soul said, as he continued his assault on his target. “He didn’t save his friend from the danger they were in, he didn’t save the universe from Gingaku and he won’t save himself from this. Admit it, Yuri. You’re a coward.”

Yuri was shocked to hear the Gingaku clansman call him by name, but then he felt a pain in his body. His eyes began glowing and he got up, his face filled with nothing but anger. “ ** _You fools_**.”, he said in a voice that wasn’t his own. “ ** _You have no idea what you have messed with.”_**

“So this is your hidden power.”, Dark Soul said. “Let’s see what good it can do you.” He brought his sword down again.

However, Yuri’s body transformed into the Red Ranger instantaneously, catching the blade. “ ** _You pitiful creature._** ” He bent the sword to its breaking point, before punching the enemy as brutally as Yuri had been. He grabbed his opponent’s faceplate, forcing him backwards with energy that knocked his mask off. The Red Ranger then summoned his Cosmo Saber. “ ** _It’s time to finish you off._** ”, he said as he approached the downed warrior.

However, he was obstructed by Mila. “Stop it, he’s beaten. You don’t need to do anything else.”

“ ** _Oh yes, I do._** ”, he Red Ranger said as he removed his Cosmo Sphere from his Morpher and placed it on the Saber. “ ** _There is only one suitable retribution for this being; oblivion.”_**

But before he could deliver the blow, he was shot in the back by Scales. “I can’t let you do that, Yuri.”, he said.

“Yeah, what’s happened to you?”, Mila asked. “You’re never this vicious.” As the conversation continued, Dark Soul took the opportunity to make his escape.

“ ** _You dare to stand defiant against me? You will also fall._** ”, the Red Ranger bellowed. He unleashed his Cosmic Energy Slash towards their direction.

“I’ve got you.”, Tarrant called out as he moved in front of the blast, absorbing it with some slight damage. “It’ll take a lot more than that to take me out.”, he declared.

“ ** _Challenge accepted._** ”, Red Ranger said in response as he ran towards the three with his Saber outstretched.

However, he soon found himself being wrestled down by Slash and Barry. As this happened, Squideyasu exited stage left. “Yuri, what’s gotten into you?”, Slash asked. “Stop it.”

But the Red Ranger didn’t reply to this, merely pushing his opponents back to the floor. “ ** _You can’t hope to defeat me, you peons.”_**

“No we can’t.”, Drago announced as he used his Staff to lock with his enemy’s weapon. “But we can distract you long enough.”

“ ** _What do you mean?_** ”, Red Ranger asked. But instead of getting a straight answer, Myron used his stinger tail to cut through the strap of his Morpher, knocking it towards himself. He then removed the Lion-1 Cosmo Sphere, which was glowing intensely and slid it into the dormant position. The Red Ranger collapsed, turning back into a confused Yuri.

“What were you playing at?”, Mila yelled at him. “Were you trying to kill us out there?”

“I - that wasn’t me.”, Yuri pleaded.

“He’s right.”, Myron said, which surprised everyone. “It was the other presence that lives inside you.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the unmasked Dark Soul heaved himself away. “That power, where did it come from? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Who knows where it came from?” Dark Soul looked around for the source of the voice and sure enough, he saw Spectrum. “It’s certainly worth studying Dark Soul, or should I call you ‘Gregory’?”

Dark Soul fumed at this. “Gregory Packer died out in space, abandoned by his friend Yuri. I have been reborn as the emissary of Gingaku, Dark Soul.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off episode 11 of Kyuranger.
> 
> Cha-ChaMari’s comment that the Terrorvore is the last of his kind is going to be worked around, since the Deathworms were a recurring type of monster in Kyuranger. 
> 
> Squideyasu’s human disguise is based on Yapool’s from Ultraman Mebius.


	10. Squideyasu Strikes Back, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri tried to control his other side, while the other Rangers go into a final showdown with Squideyasu. But what is the secret to his seemingly omniscience?

** Squideyasu’s Lair, Corona City. **

Cha-ChaMari returned to Squideyasu with her report. “I’m sorry, my Lord. The Rangers defeated both copies of the Terrorvore. But the big one did produce something interesting upon its destruction.” She held out the Cosmo Sphere she had recovered.

Squideyasu took it and observed it. “I wonder what this can do.”, he said as he clicked it into formation. An image of a map appeared in front of him, which pointed to a planet in the Sail System, beyond the Lost Galaxy. “This could be one of the Legendary Cosmo Spheres.”, he mused.

“Too bad you won’t live long enough to find out.” Squideyasu and Cha-ChaMari turned around to see Spectrum enter, accompanied by an unmasked Dark Soul. “Your friend here has told me every detail of your plan. And I in turn filled in the details you left out.”

Squideyasu scoffed at this. “I should’ve expected you to team up. You’re two peas that don’t belong in Gingaku’s pod. You’re outcasts, unlike myself.”

“Being outcasts doesn’t make us disloyal.”, Dark Soul said as he brandished his sword. “Unlike you it seems. You’ve committed a class 13 violation of our internal bylaws. For that treachery, there is only one punishment. Execution.” He ran forward with his sword bringing it down to kill his target.

Squideyasu however blocked the blade and held onto it as he turned his target around with him. “You foolish boy. Did you really think you could take on a first-generation Gingaku warrior alone?”

“Oh, but he’s not alone.”, Spectrum said as he deployed a stinger tail similar to Myron’s from his back and lunged it at the treacherous warrior.

However, Squideyasu moved out of the way at the last second, allowing the stinger to continue and hit Dark Soul, causing him to collapse to the floor. “You peons. I can see everything you could throw at me. Nothing can possibly surprise me.”

As he said this, he was shot in the back, by Cha-ChaMari. “Forgive me master, but you violated our codes and I did nothing to stop you, I wish to please our lord more than I wish to please you.”

“You treacherous… Without me, your ‘Lord’ wouldn’t be the warrior he is today.” He pocketed the Cosmo Sphere and stumbled out. “Just watch, I will destroy the Rangers all by myself. That should show that ungrateful whelp who the real master is.”

Cha-ChaMari moved to follow him, but Spectrum stopped her. “Let him throw his life away if he wants to. Even if the Rangers can’t do our job for us, they’ll leave him weak enough for us.” He put his stinger away and walked off. “Though personally, I hope he fails. I want to see Myron again.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

The Rangers in the field were returning, Tarrant carrying the exhausted Yuri on his shoulder. Pamela saw this from across the field. “What happened? Is he alright?”

“Not right now.”, Myron called to her. “He’s been through a lot and I think it’s best to let him rest up.” He then directed the other Rangers into a tent, where Jiro, Winda and Cobras were waiting.

Jiro was shocked. “Yuri, what happened to you out there? Are you hurt?”

“He’s fine.”, Mila said in a semi-annoyed tone. “It’s the rest of us that are injured.”

“I’ll repeat Jiro’s question. ‘What happened out there?’”, Cobras stated.

“Yuri happened.”, Scales answered him. “He went crazy and started attacking us. I’ll be alright, he just knocked a gear out of my aft, but I’m not sure about the others.”

“I’m telling you, that wasn’t me.”, Yuri insisted. “I don’t remember anything between having Dark Soul beat me senseless and waking up to find most of you writhing on the floor.”

“Attacking our friends is against Yuri’s basic personality.”, Winda stated. “I don’t see why he would attack you.”

“I can.”, Myron said. “Yuri has another personality inside him.”

“You said that before, but I’m having a hard time believing it.”, Slash snapped at him. “Can I see some proof?”

“Now that I think of it, Yuri did have a different voice speaking when I received my powers.”, Drago noted.

“I noticed that too.”, Barry added. “Like he was possessed by someone else.”

“It makes sense.”, Myron continued. “Most of us received Cosmo Spheres corresponding to our galaxies of origin. But Yuri is a normal human from Earth who got the Lion Galaxy’s Cosmo Sphere. And when he found it, most of his memories were erased by something. What if that something was the real chosen user of this Cosmo Sphere? Yuri here is simply a host body for something else.”

“Another presence within Yuri?”, Tarrant said with confusion. “Is that even possible?”

“It’s only a theory.”, Myron responded. “I thought about it when I remembered an old legend from my planet’s history. The legend says that those with a strong desire that hasn’t been fulfilled in their lifetime can carry on without a body, until they can find a suitable replacement for it. Perhaps the original Lion-01 user died in Gingaku’s initial assault.”

It was at this point that Yuri got up and walked to the exit. “Look, this whole thing about the other being within me is all well and good. But if I lose control again, what’s to stop me from going further than hurting you?”

“That’s a risk that we might have to consider.”, Mila replied. “But where are you going?”

“If I can’t control my other half, then I’m a liability to this team. I’m going off to try and reign it in.” He then picked up the Double-25 Cosmo Sphere. “And I’ll be taking this with me.”

“Yuri, wait!”, Jiro urged. But his friend was gone quickly. “Great going guys, we lost our best man in this fight.”, he said vindictively.

“It’s better that he acknowledges and tries to fix the problem than repress it.”, Myron stated coldly. “For now, we need to work on our current problem, namely finding out what that Cosmo Sphere does.”

As if on cue, Squideyasu’s voice rang through the air. “ _Power Rangers. I know you’re after this Cosmo Sphere my assistant recovered. If you want it, come to Corona City’s industrial park and face me in battle._ ”

“How are we supposed to deal with this problem?”, Cobras asked. “Yuri’s gone and the others that were on the last mission have some injuries.”

“There’s only one thing for it.”, Drago declared. “We all go out on this mission together.”

Everyone was shocked to hear this. “If we all go out, then there’s a greater risk of casualties than normal.”

“Plus what if Yuri comes back while we’re out?”, Jiro asked.

“We can call him if we need him.”, Mila said. “The real problem I see is how we’re gonna beat him. He can see practically everything we do.”

“He probably just know our strategies off by heart.”, Tarrant said dismissively. “We’ve just got to act a little more creatively in our attacks.”

* * *

In the hills, Yuri walked through the woods, unaware he was being followed. Eventually, he found his way to a clearing. “This seems like a good place to do this.” He pulled out the Cosmo Sphere he had taken with him, inserted it into his Morpher and activated it. This created a copy of himself that was exact in every detail. “Okay, whatever it is inside me, I want you to come out and take over this copy. I want you to face me in combat.”

The copy Yuri gagged briefly, before laughing creepily. His eyes glowed red, controlled by the presence within Yuri. “ ** _Very well, Yuri. If you want to fight me, then you do so at your own risk_**.” The clone was surrounded by red energy, which cleared to reveal an armoured figure, with elements resembling flames and a lion motif. “ ** _You are not the only one with the power to transform themselves with Lion-01’s power.”_**

“That’s what this fight is about.”, Yuri said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. “Am I really worthy to use this under my own power, or am I just a puppet for you? I must know.” He twisted his Sphere into position and inserted it into his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He pushed the Sphere forward and fired he blaster, transforming into the Red Ranger. He then summoned up his Cosmo Saber. “Let’s dance, ghost-guy.”

The lion warrior scoffed, conjuring up a sword out of thin air. “ ** _Let’s go._** ” The two warriors ran towards each other, swords outstretched, locking blades.

* * *

In the industrial park, the 10 Rangers met with Squideyasu. “Ah, all of you at once. This is indeed an honour.” Then he took another look. “Where’s your red friend?”, he asked.

“We don’t know and none of us would tell you if we did.”, Mila stated.

“Still upset after his meltdown earlier, eh?”, Squideyasu tutted. “Typical over emotional mammals.”

“Cut the insults, squid head.”, Slash responded. “We’re going to take you down right here and take our Cosmo Sphere back.”

“It’s Morphing Time!”, everyone declared as they pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and locked them into formation, before inserting them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unelash!” Everyone was morphed into their Ranger suits.

Squideyasu tutted at this. “I’ve beaten some of you before. What makes you think that this time will be different?”

“We’re not letting you get a shot in.”, Cobras declared, inserting another Cosmo Sphere into his Morpher. “Snake-16 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He pulled the trigger, firing a group of snakes that held their target in place as the other Rangers moved into positions.

“This won’t hold me for long, you fool.” Squideyasu cut himself free and fired at Cobras, knocking him down.

“It’s not meant to hold you.”, Scales declared, using the Archer-35 Sphere to shoot arrows at the enemy from behind.

However, Squideyasu ducked down, allowing the arrows to knock Jiro, Mila and Tarrant down. He then went up and took Scales down personally. “Thanks for making my job easier.”, he said mockingly.

“It’s not entirely easy taking on all of us.”, Slash declared. “Crab-21, activate!” He inserted the Cosmo Sphere onto his Cosmo Dagger and pulled the trigger. This created a giant pincer that held Squideyasu in place.

“Good work, Slash!”, Drago said as he inserted a Cosmo Sphere into his Staff. “Micro-41 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” This created a beam that enveloped the body of Squideyasu. “Hold him still a bit longer. I need to try and find a weak point.”

“I’d hate to disappoint you, old friend.”, Squideyasu declared as he broke free of the claw. “But I don’t have one.” He brandished his weapon and took out the Yellow and Dragon Rangers. “7 down, 3 to go.”

“You say that like we’ll make it easy for you.”, Winda said. “Fly-57, plus McCaw-72, activate!” Winda then grew a giant pair of wings, and then teleported away.

Squideyasu merely laughed. “I see you’re trying to attack from where I won’t see you coming.” He turned around and pointed his weapon. “I’ll give you points for trying.” He fired his beam, causing an incoming Pink Ranger to crash to the ground. Hen he felt a twang of pain in his back, which he quickly shrugged off.

“We need to hit him there.”, Myron realised. “Barry, you go behind him and I’ll take the front.”

“Okay.”, the child Ranger nodded and dashed to the other side.

“Plus Up!” Myron transformed into his Double Sting Mode and charged at Squideyasu, locking his drill arm with his opponent’s sword. “Let’s see how you handle a Super Ranger.”

“Oh I think I can handle myself pretty well.”, Squideyasu said as he put his leg in an unusual position. This tripped up an incoming Barry, who had switched to his Giant Form. “It’s impossible to surprise me. I’m an Octupeye. Our visionary nerves are all over our our bodies.”

“So that’s how you’ve been able to predict our movements so well.”, Myron said. “You’ve been seeing them all.” He parried with Squideyasu before taking a step back. “But like you, there’s little that can take me by surprise.”

“Your brother is still alive.”, Squideyasu said, as if expecting to prove Myron’s previous statement wrong. Sure enough, Myron was momentarily shocked by this, allowing Squideyasu to shoot him down. “Don’t you realise you can’t possibly defeat me?”, he declared. “I am invincible.”

* * *

Spectrum and Cha-ChaMari were watching from a vantage point. “So the Master has shared his secret with them.”, the latter noted. “Too bad it will do them no good.”

“Don’t be too sure.”, Spectrum pointed out. “After all, Squideyasu is playing with an empty hand. And the Rangers still have an ace in the hole.”

* * *

In the hills, Yuri was still sword fighting with his other half, with neither side getting the advantage. “ ** _You can’t defeat me like this_**.”, the Lion Warrior stated. “ ** _You have too many doubts coming to the surface, and they’re impeding on your performance.”_**

“I can’t let myself lose control again.”, Yuri stated. Then he had a realisation. “And that’s the problem. I’m scared of the idea that I’m not in control of my own destiny. And I can’t shake that fact until I’ve managed to defeat you.”

“ ** _So what’re you waiting for?_** ”, the Lion Warrior asked. He threw his sword to the floor. “ ** _I’m wide open and unarmed.”_**

Yuri removed the Lion-01 Cosmo Sphere and inserted it into his Cosmo Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He swung around and unleashed a wave of energy that hit the Lion Warrior, knocking his armour off, revealing the copy Yuri again.

“ ** _Don’t give into your anger._** ”, the clone urged. “ ** _Focus on tranquility._** ” With that said, the clone dissolved into dust.

Yuri powered down as a woman emerged from the trees, clapping her hands. “I must say, you really handled your internal struggle in a creative way. Making a second copy of yourself? That’s just inspired tactics.”

“Thanks?”, Yuri said in a confused tone. “Who are you?”

Before he could get an answer, his communicator beeped. “ _Yuri, it’s Myron. Squideyasu’s beating us badly over in the city’s industrial park. We need you here now, other personality issues be damned.”_

Yuri put his communicator down and turned to the woman. “We’ll have to talk later. I have somewhere to be.” He began running towards the city, not seeing the woman smiling at him.

* * *

Elsewhere, Squideyasu threw the Rangers to the floor once more. “Pathetic. Do you really think you can do anything against my infinite vision?”

“Maybe they can’t,” everyone turned to see Yuri approaching confidently “but maybe I can.”

“Yuri.”, Mila called out in relief.

“He must’ve resolved his problems.”, Myron noted.

Squideyasu laughed at the newcomer. “You? I’ve beaten all of your friends. Do you really think you alone can make a difference?”

“Oh yes I do.”, Yuri said as he pulled out the Double-25 Sphere again. “Double Up!” He inserted it into his Morpher and pressed the button on the grip, creating an exact duplicate. “And now we have two copies of the same Cosmo Sphere.”, both said in unison. Hey then proceed to repeat the process until there were a whole circle of Yuri clones surrounding Squideyasu. “Try blocking this, squid head.” They all called out as they shot their target in unison, surrounding him with fire that disintegrated the copies.

Squideyasu emerged from the flames, with his crystals shattered and his body covered in burn marks. “My eyes, I’m blind.”

“That was the general idea.”, Yuri stated. I figured that if you knew what we were doing all the time, you must have something on your body that was showing you everything. So I decided to hit you with enough force to take out all possible eyes on your body.”

“That was a good plan.”, Drago complimented him. “Now we just need to finish this guy for good. Is everyone ready?”

“Ready!”, everyone responded as all eleven of them pulled out their Cosmo Spheres. “It’s Morphing Time!” Everyone clicked the spheres into formation and inserted them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” In a few seconds, all were morphed into their Ranger suits.

“Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

“Sting of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

“Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

“The Balance Between Good and Evil, Gold Ranger!”

“Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

“Glimmer of the Serpent, Silver Ranger!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

“Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

“Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“Bringing the Universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders.”

Squideyasu was furious. “I don’t need eyes to finish you whelps off.”

“You can try.”, Yuri said as everyone brandished their weapons and scattered. Winda, Drago, Scales and Barry fired at Squideyasu from afar, before Jiro, Mila, Tarrant and Slash attacked him directly. In his weakened state, Squideyasu was unable to defend against their onslaught. Before he could strike again, Barry caught his arm with his scarf.

“Didn’t see that coming, did you?”, Myron said as Barry pulled the eliminator close enough towards them for Myron to attack with his Cosmonata. Squideyasu continued flying through the air until he hit a steel beam.

“Impossible.”, Squideyasu declared. “I’m losing?”

“Not so nice when you’re on the receiving end of a beatdown.”, Yuri said as he delivered slashes to his enemy, before knocking him back with a kick. “You’re massively outnumbered, so why not just give up now?”, he said as the other Rangers surrounded Squideyasu.

“Never. On my honour as a first-generation Gingaku clansman, I will fight until the bitter end.”

“Well that’s your mistake.”, Yuri told him. “You can keep throwing everything you have at us, but we won’t give up, not until everyone you’ve hurt has been avenged and the universe is free from the tyranny of Gingaku.” The area turned into a star field as Yuri’s chest glowed. “Let’s finish this.”

Everyone prepped their Morphers for a final attack. “Cosmic Energy Eleven-Star Impact!” Everyone fired their beams at Squideyasu, causing him to collapse from the accumulated energy.

Then the Cosmo Sphere flew into Yuri’s hand. “Looks like we can finally discover what this does.”, he said.

Then Squideyasu emerged from the flames of his destruction. “You fools, I’m not going to go down like that. Witness the power of an elite growth implant!” His implant exploded, enlarging him to a giant form in the area closer to the city. “I’m more powerful than I was before.”

“Let’s do this.”, Yuri said to the Commander.

“I agree.”, he said as everyone prepared for the next step. “Summon Zords.”

The Dragon, Bear and Scorpion Zords combined again. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

Then the Lion Zord combined with Yellow as the right arm, Green as the left arm, Black as the right leg and Blue as the left leg. “Cosmic Megazord, ready!”

The two Megazords stood next to each other, accompanied by the Balance, Serpent and Eagle Zords. “Let’s show him our full Power.”, Yuri declared.

“Especially since we’re all in possession of Zords now.”, Drago noted.

“Just try it, weaklings.”, Squideyasu said as he put his sword on his shoulder. “Gaku Zone, activate!” He fired ink from his mouth, that created rain clouds, which began perspirating.

“He changed the weather.”, Mila noted.

The two Megazords were undeterred, charging into battle. They got in a few hits, that were blocked by Squideyasu’s sword. And even blinded, the eliminator was able to move out of the way thanks to his hearing.

“The rain’s increasing his power.”, Myron realised. The two Megazords stepped back as Squideyasu shot tentacles from his arms that he used to wrap up the two robots and ram them into each other.

“You can’t stop me now.”, Squideyasu declared as he whipped the two with his arms, breaking them apart. “In this Gaku Zone, I am invincible.”

“We need to return to normal space.”, Winda stressed.

“That shouldn’t be difficult.”, Cobras radioed back as Scales did a bizarre salute.

“Okey dokey.”, Scales said as he ended his salute. The two humanoid Zords fired beams at the sky, while an energised Eagle Zord flew through the clouds, dispersing them.

“What? This can’t be.”, Squideyasu said with shock.

“It’s all up to you now.”, Scales radioed.

“Roger.”, Yuri replied. “Let’s switch it up.” This time, the Cosmo Megazord had the Bear Zord as its right arm and Orange as its left arm. The Dragon Star had Yellow as its right arm and Green as its left. Their centre Spheres began glowing.

“Commander, do you hear that?”, Yuri asked. “Like whatever’s inside me is trying to say something.”

“I hear it too.”, Drago responded. “It’s saying to combine our Zords.” The two lead Rangers did the combination motions again. “Cosmo Dragon Megazord, combine.” The Dragon Star lifted into the air, rotating its arms and folding its feet down, before connecting to the back of the Cosmo Megazord. The Dragon helmet then latched onto the chest of the Megazord.

“Wow, this is amazing.”, Yuri said as he observed the combination.

“Two or one, I’m still going to win.”, Squideyasu declared as he discharged energy at his new opponent. The Cosmo Dragon Megazord took the blast as it approached its target.

“Let’s hit ‘im with everything.”, Yuri said as he used the Bear and Scorpion arms to hit Squideyasu and sever his tentacles. “Now to begin the final attack.” Everyone prepped their Morphers for the event. “Cosmic Dragon Master Blast!” The combined energy was thrown form the chest of the Megazord at Squideyasu, knocking him back several feet and causing him to crackle with energy.

“You fought well.”, Drago noted. “Goodbye Squideyasu.”

“No, this can’t be my end.”, Squideyasu urged. “I won’t go out like this.”, but he did, exploding in a discharge of energy.

“This Space is ours.”, everyone said in unison as the new Megazord stood triumphantly.

* * *

** Squideyasu’s (now Spectrum’s) Ship, Earth Orbit. **

“ _So the Rangers defeated one of my eliminators._ ”, Gingaku said.

“Yes.”, Spectrum said in response. “And Dark Soul has been given the anti-venom to the toxin he was forced into taking by Squideyasu and sent back to you, my Lord.”

“ _Good to hear. But what about you? Are you not going to return?_ ”, Gingaku asked.

“Actually, I was going to take over the anti-Ranger operation on Earth.”, Spectrum answered him. “As long as you allow it, of course.”

Gingaku thought for a moment, then spoke. “ _Very well. But I expect results soon, or you’ll suffer the same fate as Metaro and Squideyasu.”_ With that said, he signed off.

Spectrum laughed. “You fool. Now I have the first few pieces I need to begin my plan. Now I just need to find Myron and bring him onto my team.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

The Rangers were returning to camp, discussing their recent experiences. “So you managed to overcome your fear by learning to control your emotions?”, Scales asked.

“Exactly.”, Yuri said in response. “I had to destroy the copy possessed by my other half in order to fully learn to control myself.”

“That’s all well and good, but what does this Cosmo Sphere do?”, Mila asked. “I’d hate for it to be an anti-climax.”

“I can demonstrate that.”, Winda said as she inserted the Sphere into her Morpher and activated it. This caused an interstellar map to appear, accompanied by a voice.

“ _Greetings, travellers of the stars. If you have found this, then you have chosen to undertake the quest for the Fire Knight, the greatest warrior the universe ever saw. He is hidden in stasis on a distant planet, untraceable by normal means. This Cosmo Sphere, known as Poop Deck-88, along with two others will form the Voyager-89 Sphere, which can lead to his location. This map encloses the location of the next component, Sail-86. Good luck, travellers.”_ And then the map dispersed.

“So, what was that about?”, Slash asked.

“Didn’t you hear? There’s a powerful warrior hidden somewhere and this can lead to him.”, Tarrant pointed out. “Even I picked up on that.”

“Perhaps this warrior could help us to defeat Gingaku.”, Cobras suggested.

“If that’s the case, then I suggest we make finding him our next priority.”, Drago insisted.

“Not right now.”, a voice called out. “For now, I think you should at least receive some reward.” A woman came out of one of the tents. None of the Rangers, but Yuri recognised her.

“It’s you.”, Yuri realised. “You’re that woman from earlier.”

“Oh I’m much more than that.”, the woman said as she put her finger on her nose. “I’m the commander of this rebellion movement. Lulu Goodman, at your service.”

As everyone else reacted in shock at this, Myron stated up at the moon, thinking back on Squideyasu’s words to him “ _Your brother is still alive.”_. He thought that was impossible, considering what he had last seen his brother doing.

* * *

_He thought back to that day in the cave, Heath was collapsed on the floor, his skin discolouring from some curse on the tomb. “Myron, help me!”, he had urged. “MYRON!!!” But Myron had run off in fear, leaving his brother to his apparent fate._

* * *

“Heath, are you really still out there?”, Myron asked as he continued staring at the crescent moon. “And if you are, then why haven’t you contacted me?”

* * *

Elsewhere, Spectrum was staring at the same moon, as Cha-ChaMari approached. “All is prepared for your command, Sir.”, she said.

“Good.”, he responded. “I have a lot of work to look forward to on this planet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 12 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> I’ve changed how the three Argo Kyutama work here, in order to facilitate the arc I have planned for them. 
> 
> Gregory being Dark Soul was planned from the start. But I had planned to make that reveal here. It will be some time before the Rangers find out though.
> 
> The identity of the Commander is a little self-indulgent, but I couldn’t be bothered to create a new character so I decided to use a former Ranger. But rather than go with an established character from canon, I went with one from my own previous work.


	11. Spectrum Unleashed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A virus begins to spread throughout a Gingaku-controlled area. When Myron goes to investigate, he recognises the mark of an old acquaintance.

** Spectrum’s Hideout, Earth. **

A new modified Commanaga entered the main room. This one had mostly green armour, with some purple areas protruding from his skin, notably on his shoulders (one pointed upwards, with the other pointed downwards), his waist and half of his face, with an ear on the area in question. “MechaBat reporting for service, Master.”, he said as he pumped his arm.

“MechaBat is the latest Commanaga to be modified.”, Cha-ChaMari informed Spectrum. “Dr. Cerebron has dispatched him to help you defeat the Rangers.”

Spectrum thought for a minute. “So, the good doctor sent you to help me.”, he stated. “What are your exact orders?”, he asked MechaBat.

“I am programmed to assist you in any task you require of you.”, MechaBat answered.

“Good.” Spectrum then deployed his stinger tail and injected the modified Commanaga with something. “This is a virus that not only reduces free will, but also spreads to humanoids by contact. Now then, you’re going to go to area MC-646. Do you understand?”

“Yes master.” MechaBat said this in a monotone. He then stumbled into the teleporter and was transmitted to the specified area.

Cha-ChaMari was confused. “Master Spectrum, the intended use for this Commanaga was as a soldier. Why’re you using him as a sacrifice?”

“The Rangers will appear to investigate when something happens in the area.”, Spectrum told her. “Hopefully, Myron will be among them and recognise the virus’s composition. And when he does, he’ll seek me out. Then I can begin my real plan to destroy the Rangers.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Myron was sitting on a rock, still thinking about what Squideyasu had said to him. “ _Your brother is still alive._ ” He thought about whether the eliminator was being honest with him. He thought back to the last time he had seen his brother.

* * *

_** Planet Sori, Scorpion Nebula. A long time ago. ** _

_Myron and Heath were investigating the cave they had discovered with the guidance of the offworlder named Drago. “So ‘it’s a simple job’ right?”, Myron said sarcastically. “You made me think we’d just go in, grab this Cosmo Sphere, get out and then give it to Drago when he comes back.”_

_“How was I to know we’d come across booby-traps in this temple?”, Heath replied sheepishly. “Who could’ve possibly known that?”_

_“Everyone who read the legend of this place, and those who didn’t.”, Myron responded. “The legend clearly says ‘He who evades the obstacles placed in his path shall be the one rewarded with the treasure within’.”_

_“Eh, you’re always sweating the details.”, Heath said, pointing to the plinth nearby. “Look, there’s the Cosmo Sphere, right in front of us. There’s no possible booby traps left to stop us now.” He walked forward, outstretching his arm._

_But as Heath got nearer the plinth, he suddenly collapsed, crying out in pain. Myron was shocked to see this. “Heath, what’s happening? I thought there weren’t any more traps.”_

_“I don’t know.”, Heath struggled to say. “I feel like, I’m losing control of my own body. Myron, help me!” His skin began to turn white, with his hands mottling. “Myron!”_

_But Myron was too scared of seeing his brother being afflicted with this apparent curse. His instincts were telling him to get out of there, for fear of suffering the same fate. But something else compelled him to grab the Cosmo Sphere first, before setting off running out of the path that opened when he took the Sphere. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”, he said as he took off. “With help.”_

_But Myron soon found himself eating those words. When he got back into the light, he saw giant towers descending onto the planet, with helmets falling from the sky onto the heads of the people, turning them into black-suited figures that attacked those lucky enough to escape. Then the image of a white hooded figure was projected onto the sky. “_ People of Sori. Please attend carefully. You now enjoy the generous protection of the Gingaku Intergalactic Samurai Clan, as does every other inhabited planet in this universe. As long as you avoid resistance, we can assure you a relatively normal status quo. If not, then actions will be taken to dissuade resistance. So says Lord Gingaku.”

_Then the masked men turned towards Myron and generated weapons. “No, stay back.”, Myron said as he raised his arm in defence. Then the Cosmo Sphere in his hand glowed, knocking the Detainers back and creating a blaster-gauntlet hybrid on his arm. Myron was shocked at this, but then he became determined and began to fight back using the blaster and some hand-to-hand combat skills._

* * *

Myron was snapped out of his memory by the arrival of Mila. “So this is where you’ve secluded yourself. You seem to be making a habit of cutting yourself off.”, she said semi-humorously. “Are you alright?”

Myron stood up. “Yeah, I’m alright. And you wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a problem going on. What’s up?”

“The two Commanders want to show us something.”, Mila answered him. Myron tutted, remembering that the Commander of the human Rebellion had revealed herself the other day. “Come on, or we’ll miss the briefing.”

* * *

Myron and Mila dashed into the briefing room (or rather, the tent that was doubling as a briefing room), where Drago and Commander Goodman were waiting for them, with the other Rangers. “What took you so long?”, Cobras asked the two. “Normally Myron is the most punctual among us.”

“Give him a break.”, Tarrant said. “You organics all got hurt pretty badly the other day. It’s natural that your puny bodies’ care would override other priorities.”

“Thanks.”, Jiro said semi-annoyed. “What’s the big emergency you called us here for?”

Commander Goodman went over to a console. “We were sent this Gingaku recording from an unknown source. The message originated from Mendota, California.” The image she brought up was a red-coloured piratical Alien, mostly red with a fur collar and golden skulls on his shoulders.

“ _Mayday, mayday. We are experiencing a problem. Detainers in our area are disobeying orders and humans are uprising against us. Send help.”_ Then the message cut off due to static.

“This doesn’t seem like something we should focus on.”, Scales stated. “Gingaku’s problems are our lucky day.”

“Perhaps.”, Drago replied. But we could try and see what’s brought about this sudden rebellion against the Area Controller. Which is why our next operation will be to investigate it as a team.”

“I can’t go with you.”, Barry spoke up. “I’m supposed to be back with Big Bear tomorrow, which requires me to leave today.”

“He’s going to need help setting up the ship.”, Scales added. “Cobras and I can handle that while you’re off investigating.”

Drago thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose we can investigate with just 8 of us.”

Winda then raised her hand. “Actually sir, I scheduled myself to fully examine the Poop Deck-88 Cosmo Sphere to ascertain the optimal route to the location of the next component, in addition to the location itself.”

“Plus you can’t just leave us regular humans undefended against a potential attack.”, Commander Goodman pointed out. “I suggest leaving Jiro and Slash behind to protect us.”

Slash was shocked to hear this. “Hey, I didn’t agree to this.”

“Oh believe me,” Goodman winked “I can make it worth your while.”

Drago was fuming by now. “Does anyone else have a reason to stay behind?”

“No.”, Yuri replied.

“I’m good.”, Tarrant added.

“Nothing on my timetable.”, Mila commented.

Myron sighed. “I could do to get out of here. It’ll clear my head a little.”

Drago raised his staff in the air. “Alright, let’s move out.”

* * *

** Mendota, USA. **

Cha-ChaMari walked up to Spectrum. “Our scanners have detected only 5 Rangers approaching us.”

Spectrum turned to her. “No matter. I don’t need all of the Rangers, just the Orange one. Was he among the 5?”

“Yes, sir.”

Spectrum broke into a laugh, but it was incredibly silent. “Good. All is proceeding exactly as planned.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the 5 Rangers landed in the city, demorphed. “Alright, let’s fan out and search for the humans in this uprising.”, Drago stated.

“And hope that we don’t run into Gingaku’s forces in this area first.”, Yuri added.

As if on cue, the Area Controller they had seen on the recording appeared in front of them. “Power Rangers. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad you’re here. You can help me control this problem.”

Everyone was confused by this. “You really think we’ll help you with this problem?”, Mila asked. “Why?”

“So you know about my troubles, but not the whole details it seems.”, the Controller noted. “I am Area Controller Bucchan. I’ve discovered that the uprisings are the result of a virus being spread among the humans.” He showed a video of a human in a zombie-like gait slashing at another human, causing them to adopt a similar gait. “Since most of my Detainers are controlled humans, they’ve been infected as well, and it’s overridden the control chips in their helmets. I only have the ones that Gingaku provided me when I landed on this planet.”

“But where does this infection come from?”

“ _From me._ ” Everyone turned around to see the shambling figure of MechaBat, accompanied by an army of humans, purple-coloured Detainers and Commanagas. “ _No, not the Commanaga. Me, Spectrum. I control anything that comes into contact with the virus I sent out. A perfect trap to lure you in.”_

The Rangers were shocked to hear this. “You wanted us here?”, Drago asked.

“ _No, not all of you._ ”, the possessed MechaBat countered. “ _I only wanted one of you; the one you call Myron. And he came, as I planned for.”_

Myron was surprised to hear this. “You wanted me in particular? Why?”

“ _Same old Myron, always sweating the details.”_ , Spectrum answered. This caused Myron’s face to light up with shock. “ _I created this infection as a test for you to overcome. And in case you need motivation…”_ A zombie appeared seemingly out of nowhere and scratched Mila, causing her to become a zombie. “ _Let’s see if your friend being affected can motivate you.”_ The zombies then lunged forward, arms ready for the kill.

“Oh no, you don’t.”, Tarrant declared as he pulled out a Cosmo Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. “Sheep-26 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He fired a beam at the horde, who all collapsed into unconsciousness. “That should hold them off for a while.”

“I hope so.”, Bucchan nodded. “Now come on, let’s help your friend overcome this virus.” The Rangers all turned towards him in shock. “What? You don’t think I’m going to let you suffer the same problem I’m suffering.”

“Nice to see you’re smart enough to know about that.”, Drago replied. “And speaking of knowledge, how did that Spectrum guy know Myron’s name?”

“I’ve never heard of him.”, Bucchan insisted.

“That’s not what I’m wondering.”, Myron thought. “Could this ‘Spectrum’… be… my brother?”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp **

Slash was answering a call from Yuri. “So this Spectrum guy turned most of the humans in the area into his zombies.”, he stated.

“Yep. That’s the reason they were attacking the Gingaku forces.”, Yuri responded. “Not only that, he seems to have some history with Myron. I asked him about it, but he ducked out of the conversation.”

“I’ll bring backup.”, Slash said before hanging up. “Jiro, Barry, are you doing anything?”, he called out.

“Not really.”, Jiro responded. “I’m just sitting around, waiting for an attack that probably won’t happen.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty boring waiting for your ship to be prepared.”, Barry concurred. I just wish something would happen.”

“Something has happened.”, Slash told them. “The situation in California got worse. Let’s go.”

* * *

** Bucchan’s Dark Gear. **

Mila had been restrained to a table. “I’m taking no chances with a zombie in our midst.”, Bucchan insisted. “Even if she is unconscious. Now then, would one of you care to examine the patient?”

The Rangers all looked at each other nervously. All except Myron, who stepped forward. “I’ll do it”, he said. “One of the benefits of having a stinger tail is that my species make great biological chemists.” He jabbed his tail into Mila, causing her to stir. “I’ve definitely seen this type of infection before.”

“Really?”, Yuri asked. “Where?”

“It doesn’t matter”, Myron said dismissively. “What does matter is that I created an anti-venom for this when I was still a kid.”

He jabbed his stinger further into Mila, causing her to wake up, now back to normal. “What happened? Where am I?”, she asked.

“You got infected.”, Myron told her. “But I was able to cure you.”

“That’s a good thing.”, Tarrant declared boisterously. “We can distribute this cure to the people and stop Spectrum’s infection.”

“Your robot makes a good point.”, Bucchan added.

“It’s not that simple.”, Myron said. “It would take me weeks to create enough of the anti-venom for everyone. And by then, it may be too late.”

“You mean we can’t do anything to stop this?”, Mila said dejectedly.

“I didn’t say that.”, Myron insisted. “If we want to stop the infection, we need to destroy the original carrier, who in all likelihood is that Commanaga with the damaged face.”

Before they could come up with a plan, Spectrum’s voice came in over the speakers. “ _Rangers, your friends have arrived to help you in this situation. Unfortunately, I got to them first. If you want them back, then come to me with the Area Controller.”_

“Well, I think the choice here is obvious.”, Yuri said, before grabbing Bucchan. “C’mon ‘Captain’.”

“This is madness, unhand me at once.”, Bucchan protested as the other Rangers took hold of him as well.

* * *

In the streets, the Rangers met up with Spectrum. “Well, I see you’re smart enough to follow a directive.”, Spectrum said. “Well then, I suppose I should keep my word.” He motioned for the 3 Rangers to be released to the others.

“So you must be Spectrum.”, Yuri said. “We’ll give you Bucchan, since you gave us our friends back.”

“Why you!”, Bucchan growled as Tarrant pushed him towards the Zombie troops. “What do you want with me?”

“I just wish to ask you ‘What do you think you’re doing?’. Working with the Rangers? What would Gingaku think?” He then summoned his stinger and wrapped it around his foot. “I suppose I’ll have to ask him myself.” He plunged the foot into Bucchan, sending him flying into a wall so hard he exploded.

The Rangers were shocked to see this. “He just wasted that guy like it was nothing.”, Jiro said with shock.

Myron became angry and stepped forward. “Alright, who are you?”, he asked. “The way you talk, your familiarity with me, even that infection you’ve spread. I’ve seen them all before and only one person fits all three provisos. And you can’t be him.”

“Oh really?”, Spectrum asked. “Why would that be?” He stepped forward, looking Myron directly in the eye. “Look at me up close and tell me that I can’t be who your evidence tells you I am.”

Myron’s anger soon turned to shock. “No, it can’t be… it’s impossible.”

“Yes.”, Spectrum said. “The ultimate impossibility. I’m sure you can figure it out, if you survive my army that is.” He clicked his fingers and teleported away.

Jiro, Mila and Slash ran forward, fighting off the zombie hordes of humans. “We’ll handle these guys, you take the Commanaga.”, Mila called out.

“I like that idea.”, Yuri said as he and the others pulled out their Cosmo Spheres. “It’s Morphing Time!” They clicked their Spheres into formation and inserted them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” After going through the motions, Yuri, Myron, Tarrant, Drago and Barry were now morphed.

“Now then, let’s sterilise this sickness.”, Myron said as he and Tarrant began pushing tables and chairs into the Detainers. Yuri turned around, shooting any enemies that came near him as if he was in a survival horror. As he did this, Myron took on another group led by a Commanaga.

Barry extended his scarf and began swinging it around. “This is my last fight on Earth, so I’m gonna make it count.” He knocked away the Detainers by creating a cyclone.

Drago saw this from behind a billboard. “I can see I’m not needed here.”, he said as he decided to sit down. But no sooner had he sat down, that a Detainer burst its hands through the board. Drago immediately stood up, brandishing his staff in rifle mode. “I’ll teach you to sneak up on me.” He then proceeded to shoot his way through the hordes, before firing another shot that managed to save Barry from a surprise attack.

“Thanks for the assist, D-Man!”, Barry said as he waved back.

“You’re welcome.”, Drago said as he turned and shot another Detainer.

Myron was also working his way through the Detainers, while Tarrant dealt with a Commanaga. As the Detainers were finished, the downed Commanaga was helped up by another one, who joined him in approaching the two Rangers. “We’ve got trouble.”, Tarrant motioned to Myron.

“From these two?”, Myron asked. “This’ll be a walk in the park.”

Tarrant cracked his knuckles. “Hey, when you’re right, you’re right.” The two then ran towards their opponents.

Yuri took down another Detainer and then saw this happening. “How about a little extra sword-power?” He then threw his Cosmo Saber towards them.

Myron rolled out of the way of his Commanaga, letting the sword hit its chest. “Thanks for the assist.”, Tarrant called out as he pulled on the sword, removing the blade and converting it into an axe, which he used to slash the two opponents backwards.

“And I can use this blade.”, Myron said as he inserted his handle into the blade, before pulling out the secondary handle to create a Cosmonata. He used this to join Tarrant in slashing the other Commanaga, eventually hitting it with enough combined force to destroy it.

From the side, MechaBat witnessed his army being destroyed. “Must destroy.”, he hissed out.

“Not on our watch.”, Myron and Tarrant said as they prepped their Morphers for a final attack. The other three Rangers joined them in doing so. “Cosmic Energy Blast!”

MechaBat hissed as the five gathered energy, which they then fired at him, causing his body to explode. Across the way, the infected humans returned to normal. “That’s a relief.”, an exhausted Slash breathed out. “Can we go home now?”

As if on cue, MechaBat grew to giant size, his growth implant damaged. “I don’t know how I got so big, but I’m gonna use it.”, he declared as he tapped his staff.

“We’ll handle this.”, Drago said as he, Barry and Myron prepared themselves for battle. “Summon Zords.” The Dragon, Scorpion and Bear Zords appeared, combining into one. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s get this target.”, Drago said as the Dragon Star charged into battle with MechaBat. The Megazord initially struggled, but managed to overcome the enemy eventually.

“Alright, we got him.”, Barry declared. Then the Megazord noticed that purple liquid had squirted from his leg onto a building.

“He’s still a carrier as a giant.”, Drago realised.

“Don’t worry, I got this.”, Barry replied before launching his drone at MechaBat. The drone zoomed towards MechaBat, avoiding his shots and drawing his attention so the Dragon Star Megazord could land shots on its target.

“Now.”, Myron said as he fired a beam from his Scorpion arm, which blew MechaBat back. Before anyone could celebrate, they were rocked by fire from elsewhere. They turned to see a Gearoid approaching to defend MechaBat.

“Oh no.”, Barry cried out as the two enemies prepared to attack.

As the Gearoid approached, it was stopped by the Cosmo Megazord in its usual formation. “Hope we’re not late.”, Yuri radioed to the Commander.

“No problem.”, Drago responded. “Let’s finish these guys together.” The Rangers then initiated their combination to form the Cosmo Dragon Megazord. “Cosmo Dragon Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s hit ‘em with all we’ve got.”, Yuri said as he led the others in a final attack. “Cosmic Dragon Master Blast!”

The combined beam hit the Gearoid and MechaBat, damaging them significantly. “Why you…”, MechaBat managed to get out before he collapsed in a fireball along with the Gearoid.

“This Space is ours.”, Yuri declared, to everyone’s agreement.

* * *

From afar, Spectrum observed the end of the battle, as a Commanaga made his approach. “I see I have company.”, he said before wrapping his stinger around his leg again before zooming over and kicking the Commanaga into the wall, causing him to dissolve into purple sludge, that exploded. “First a Commanaga, soon Gingaku himself.”, he said to himself as he walked off.

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

The Rangers had gathered for Barry’s sendoff. “I’m sorry you have to go so soon.”, Mila said to him. “Are you sure you don’t want to stick around?”

“You know I can’t do that Mila.”, Barry shook his head. “I’m expected back pretty soon.”

“I guess this is goodbye then.”, Jiro said sadly.

“Not forever.”, Drago interjected. “I’ve been in touch with ol’Teddy and he said that if there’s ever any trouble, we can just call and you’ll be allowed to come over again.”

That’s good.”, Barry said with some relief. “Now I just wish that Tarrant and Myron could be here.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Myron personally since you got back.”, Scales realised.

“Tarrant also realised his and went to check on him.”, Cobras stated. “I hope things are alright.”

* * *

Outside the tent, Myron was once more staring at the moon, when Tarrant approached. “Go away, I’m not in the mood to talk to other people right now.”

“Well I’m not people, I’m a robot.”, Tarrant responded. “Now then, what’s got you down? Is it what Spectrum said to you?”

“No.”, Myron wheezed out. “Not what he said, but who he is.”

Tarrant was shocked to hear this. “You know who Spectrum is. Who is he?”

“He’s my brother, Heath.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off episode 13 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> While MechaBat got his purple areas from his infection in the Sentai footage, I changed that up here, since I doubt I’d be working with an uninfected suit for US footage. 
> 
> This is the beginning of the second arc, which will hopefully move focus away from Yuri and onto other characters, mostly Myron. 
> 
> Bucchan is based off Basco from Gokaiger.


	12. Chaos on Kakyesu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the search for the second piece of the map to the Fire Knight, Mila finds herself unable to sit back during an injustice being committed against the locals.

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

Mila was holding a training exercise, with Jiro and Scales in attendance. The two leapt in to attack her, only to be slashed backwards by her Cosmo Blade. She then dashed forward and hit the two in their chests, causing them to keel over. “Okay, I’ll give you this, you’re a good fighter.”, Jiro wheezed.

“Yeah.”, Scales nodded. “I may be mechanical but that hurt like…”

“I get the point.”, Mila told them. “Believe me, I didn’t get to be this good overnight. I was once as green as you are now.” She then thought back to her own training days.

* * *

** _Planet Talpa, Chameleon Nebula. 10 years ago._ **

_At the time, Mila was still a novice, training as part of the Verde Ninja School. She was up against two much more experienced students. She tried to pull off the manoeuvre her future self would pass on to her fellow Rangers. However, these students were able to avoid her blade and cut her off before she could fully approach them. The Master, a middle-aged man in the same type of outfit as his students, then raised his hand. “That’s enough.”, he called out. He then turned towards the downed Mila. “Do you know why you failed to defeat these two, young one?”_

_“I’ll tell you why.”, one of the older students mocked. “Because she’s a little weakling who thinks she’s better than she actually is.”_

_“She shouldn’t be here.”, his friend said just as mockingly. “She’s not got the heart needed to be a warrior.”_

_“Stop it!”, Mila cried. “I do too have the heart of a warrior. And I could beat you two if I really put my focus into it.”_

_“And that is your problem.”, the Master scolded her. “You overestimate your abilities in comparison to others. Until you learn to be less brash, you won’t be able to become a true warrior.” He stood up and began walking off with the two older students. “Think upon my words, child. They will serve you well to remember them.”_

* * *

Back in the present, Mila’s trainings session was interrupted by Cobras. “Winda has called us for an emergency meeting. All of us must be present.” With that said, he walked off.

“Good luck getting all of us there.”, Jiro commented. “Myron and Tarrant left the camp last night. I don’t know why, but I doubt they’ll be back for this meeting.”

* * *

** In the City. **

Myron was walking through an alleyway when he heard he sound of metal clanking. “You can come out of hiding, Tarrant. I knew you were following me hours ago.”

“Aww, and I thought my hiding skills had improved.”, Tarrant whined as he stepped out from his hiding place. “Anyway, I’m sure you know why I was following you.”

“Because you know I’m going out to find Spectrum.”, Myron answered. “After all, you’re the only one I told about him being my brother.”

“That’s why I followed you. I want to know why you haven’t told the rest of the team about your relationship with him? Aren’t they your friends?”

“They are, but this is a matter of family. It was me that left Heath for dead in that cave, not the others. So it’s my responsibility to help him now.” He then saw that Tarrant had turned around and was walking away. “Hey, where are you going?”

“If you’re not going to tell the others, then I am.”, Tarrant declared. But after a few steps, he stopped still, the lights of his eyes fading dead away.

“I can’t allow you to do that.”, Myron said to the prone robot. “Fortunately, I’ve been holding onto your control box for a long time, allowing me to put you into sleep mode. You’ll reactivate, but I’ll be long gone by then.” He turned around and resumed walking. “Nothing is going to stop me from helping my brother. Not even the Power Rangers.”

* * *

Back at the camp, the rest of the Rangers gathered around their meeting table. “I hope you’ve got some good news for us, Winda.”, Drago said. “I’d like to make some progress with this quest at some point.”

“You shouldn’t worry.”, Winda assured him. “After careful examination, I have determined that the second piece of the map to the Fire Knight is located in the Sail System, on the planet Kakyesu.”

“Kakyesu? What’s that planet like?”, Yuri asked.

“It’s a marine planet that’s the sister to Miranoi, former home of the Lost Galaxy Rangers.”, Winda responded to him.

“I’ve already taken the liberty of using the roulette wheel to determine the away team for this mission.”, Drago interjected. “The winners this time were Yuri, Cobras, Mila, Winda and Slash.”

“With our combined assets; Yuri’s leadership skills, Cobras’ keen senses, Mila’s warrior abilities, my tactical knowledge and Slash’s swordsmanship, I calculate a 99.9% chance of success.”, Winda noted.

“Hold on a minute.”, Slash interjected. “Just how are we supposed to get to planet Kakyesu? Our one ship died ages ago and I can tell you I’m not suffering another bumpy ride in the Megazord.”

“I calculated for this possibility and came up with a solution.”, Winda informed him. “My Eagle Zord has a third configuration as a wing pack for the Megazord, which should stabilise our flight at the cost of a limb.”

“Well if that’s all there is to it, then what’re we waiting for?”, Yuri asked. “Let’s set off for Kakyesu and recover the second piece of the map.”

* * *

** Planet Kakyesu **

Under the seas, the Planetary Controller Lethnock, a Reptile-like being with flippers, divers’ visors on his shins and hips, air pipes on his chest and air tanks on his shoulders, was communicating with Gingaku via the hologram system in his Dark Gear. “Ooh aye, Lord Gingaku. I see yer callin’ for a progress report.”

“ _Yes_.”, Gingaku replied. “ _Since that idiot Squideyasu unleashed the Terrorvore and allowed for its destruction, the first piece of the map inside the Poop Deck-88 Cosmo Sphere it was storing has fallen into the Rangers’ hands. No doubt they will have worked out the second Sphere is on your planet. You must convince the natives to give it up.”_

“I’ve been tryin’ for dees te get th’ Cosmo Sphere from thoose primitives. But yer noo what, I think they’re smarter than we geev thum credit for.”, Lethnock reported.

“ _Well you’ll have to try harder.”_ , Gingaku fumed. “ _You cannot let the Rangers get the Sail-86 Cosmo Sphere, no matter what it takes. Redouble your efforts to sway the primitives.”_ With that said, he signed off.

“I won’t let ye doon, sire.”, Lethnock nodded before turning to his Detainer assistant. “Increase the levels the machine’s putting oot. Or Gingaku will have all our heads on a platter.”

* * *

On a nearby beach, the 5 Rangers dropped down from low orbit and landed feet first on the sand. “Thank luck there were no pebbles on this beach.”, Yuri commented. “Or this landing would’ve been really hard.”

“We’re not here for a day at the beach.”, Slash reminded him. “Even if we were, those waters don’t look safe to swim in.” Sure enough, the seas were black, every inch filled with discarded waste. “I guess this planet hasn’t invented pollution control.”

“Such a waste of a society.”, Mila said solemnly. “At least on my planet, we know not to leave waste everywhere.”

* * *

_** Planet Talpa, 7 years ago. ** _

_Mila had been assigned to picking up the leftover waste from a meal. “Three years I’ve been here and I’m still the trash pickup girl.”, she mused to herself. “Sometimes I think that nobody wants me in this group.”_

_“That’s not true.” Mila looked up towards the speaker. It was Kota, a pupil in the same class as her in the academy’s ranking system. “I appreciate everything you do.”_

_“That’s nice of you to say, Kota.”, Mila responded as she continued with her pickup. “It’s just that I shouldn’t be the only one volunteering to do these types of tasks.”_

_“It’s because you’re so good at picking up for others.”, Kota said as he started to help her. “You’re always willing to so what most of the students of Verde Academy consider beneath warriors. The Master himself mentioned that you may be a less than average warrior right now, but you have the necessary heart to become a great one.”_

_“Thanks, Kota.”, Mila said with a smile on her face. “Sometimes, you make the most menial parts of the program easier to handle. And who knows? Someday, I might be one of the most celebrated warriors in the history of civilisation.”_

* * *

“The seas weren’t always like that.” Everyone turned around to see a little girl standing behind them. “They became like this recently. Our Planetary Controller told us that if we gave him our material goods, then the gods would return our waters to their clear state. But nothing has come of it, even after our previous offering.”

Mila went over to the little girl. “You seem to be pretty knowledgeable about this planet. We’re new here and could use your help, um…?”

“My name is Kayla.”, the girl responded. “Our planet gets few offworlders, not since Lethnock descended from the heavens. What is your business here?”

Mila pulled out her Chameleon-07 Sphere. “We’re here to find something that looks like this. It’s vital for the future of the universe. Have you seen anything like it?”

Kayla shook her head. “I’m afraid I know of nothing that shape. But I know of a great treasure that was gifted to our people long ago by a traveller, kept within a temple. Perhaps that is what you seek.”

“Sounds about right.”, Slash nodded. “Do you think you could take us to speak with the one in charge of your people?”

“Dude, you’re saying it all wrong.”, Yuri told him. “You say ‘Take me to your leader’.”

“Regardless of the usual speech, our intentions are clear.”, Winda pointed out. “Who is in charge of your society?”

“That would be the elder of our village.”, Kayla answered. “I can take you to him.”

* * *

From beneath the sea, Lethnock observed the newcomers. “So, a group of offworlders have decided ta show up on mah planet. Well I can’t be allowing that noo, can I?”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers had been led to the village, where they received various looks of disdain from the locals. “We seem to have become the centre of attention.”, Cobras noted.

“Well we are outsiders to them.”, Winda pointed out. “And Kayla said that they don’t get many visitors from off world.”

Then one of the villagers came up to them. “Why have you come here, strangers?”, he asked. “Kayla, what have I taught you regarding outsiders to the village?”

“Nothing, Uncle.”, Kayla replied honestly. “Indeed, we seem to be serving the whims of an outsider in order to restore our waters.”

“Enough insolence, child.”, Kayla’s Uncle snapped. “Outsiders are a burden we don’t need to work with right now.” Everyone in the village approached the Rangers, malevolent intent in their eyes.

“I see that fear of outsiders is a universal thing.”, Mila thought to herself, thinking back once more to her days of learning to be a warrior.

* * *

** _Planet Talpa, Five Years Ago._ **

_The students of the Verde Academy were hard at work training, when a messenger burst in. “There’s a beast! In the forests!”, he yelled. “A beast!”_

_The Master tapped his shoulder. “Calm down.”, he said. “Then talk.”_

_The messenger took a few breaths and then spoke again. “Word has reached the village of a creature in the woods. It isn’t native to our world and someone claims that it fell from the sky.”_

_“You have done well, my friend.” The Master stood up. “You all heard the messenger. There is an unknown beast in the forests. Who will go and prove themselves brave enough to face this creature, even at the cost of his own life?”_

_“I will.”, Mila said, stepping forward. Everyone except Kota began to laugh at her. “Yes, yes, ‘lets’ all laugh at the weakling’. But I’m serious about this. I’m willing to find this creature and bring it and any threat it poses to an end. If I don’t return, then I wish for the rest of you to flee far from here, where the beast will not get to you.”_

_Kota then stood up. “She’s right. One of us has to take a stand for the others and if any of us had to do it, I’m glad it was Mila. If you think that’s something worth mocking, then you don’t truly have the heart of a warrior.”_

_The Master then began applauding. “Very well said, both of you. I give Mila my permission to seek out this creature. And if you manage to return within the day, bring me some evidence you encountered the creature.”_

_Mila bowed. “I won’t let you down, Master.” She then grabbed her blade and ran off into the forest, in search of the creature._ **(Authors note: see chapter 7 for what happened to her next)**

* * *

“Stop!”, the villagers stopped looking at the Rangers menacingly and stood aside. An older man, of about sixty-five with a long beard. “These strangers have done nothing to harm us, so we bare them no ill will.”

“Thank you, Elder.”, Kayla nodded. “These people say they are here in search of something. I believe they are after our sacred treasure.”

“Ah yes, the item of great importance we were given by the star traveller when I was young.” The Elder then shook his head. “But alas, I cannot be sure that you have earned it.”

“Please sir, couldn’t we at least look at it?”, Yuri asked. “The fate of the universe is at stake and what we’re looking for could affect that.”

“I want to believe you. But I lack evidence of your story. How can I trust you?”, the Elder pointed out.

Before anymore arguments could be put forth, Lethnock appeared, accompanied by his Commanagas and Detainers. “Ah, villagers. Nace of ye to have a welcomin’ commitee ready fo’ me. But who’re these laddies and lasses? They’re not from aroond here.”

Thinking quickly, Winda came up with a cover story. “Can’t you see? I’m an assistant-class droid. And I’m… assisting these… inspectors with a… surprise inspection.”

Mila was confused, but quickly decided to play along, adopting an angry tone. “That’s exactly why we’re here. And let me say, you’re doing a terrible job of oppressing these people. Allowing them to roam free without any form of restraint. I’m shocked at your lack of action.”

Lethnock seemed suspicious, but he still responded. “Well, on a planet this remoot, we cannae get the proper resources for restraints. And we have other ways of gettin’ stuff oot of this oppression.” He went over to the Elder. “Noo then, yer waters still have’nae recovered as a result o’ yer offerings. Do ye ken why that might be?”

“Our offerings to the Great One are insufficient.”, the Elder nodded. “We will gather more material items and give them to you as an offer.”

“Will it include yer sacred treasure this time?”, Lethnock asked. “That migh’ appese yer gods enough ta restore yer waters.”

“You know we can’t possibly give that up to anyone but the worthy one.”

“So be it.” Lethnock turned and began walking away. “I’ll be back within the hour ta collect yer goods.”

As Lethnock vanished out of view, Yuri looked around and noticed something, which he recognised as the signs of a plan. He then decided to speak. “Well then, let’s just hope we can keep things from ESCALATING and becoming a FIGHT.”

Slash nodded in acknowledgment, beginning to beat up the Detainers. Cobras and Winda followed suit, with the latter choosing to take on the Commanagas, easily matching them with her robot body. Yuri then joined in and knocked a few of them down with hand to hand moves. “What’re you doing?”, asked a female villager. “I thought you were inspectors.”

“That was designated a lie.”, Winda said as she continued to struggle with her opponents. “We exist to get rid of Gingaku, wherever it grows. And we won’t rest until the whole universe is free of them.”

“We’ll show you.”, Slash said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. The other Rangers took the hint and did so, all yelling “Cosmo Energy, Unleash!”, one after another. Now the Gingaku soldiers were facing four fully morphed Power Rangers.”

“What the?”, one of the Commanagas asked. “I thought the Rangers were trapped on Earth.”

“Well you were wrong.”, Yuri said as he pulled out his Cosmo Saber and slashed at the other Commanaga. “Wherever you go, we’ll be there to stop you.” He pulled out his Cosmo Sphere from his Morpher and inserted it onto his Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He released several slashes of energy that destroyed the Commanaga.

“I’m not sticking around here.”, the other Commanaga said as he began running away. “I’m going back to base.”

“Oh no you’re not.”, Winda said. “Telescope-20, activate!” She fired a blast at the Commanaga, which literally painted a target on his back. “You can’t escape now.” She inserted her own Sphere onto her Cosmo Blaster. “Cosmic Energy Blast!”

Cobras and Slash joined her using their Cosmo Scythe and Cosmo Dagger respectively. “Cosmic Energy Cutting!” The three blasts hit the Commanaga, destroying him as well.

The villagers applauded the Rangers. “I see now that I may have misjudged you. But I must ask, what happened to the fifth member of your party?”, the Elder said.

“She’s gone off on her own.”, Yuri answered him. “But where, I don’t know.”

* * *

Back on the beach, Lethnock stood near the sea with a group of 3 Detainers. “Ha ha, those primitives dinnae realise that this whole pollution has been ma doin’ the whole time. I’ve been pumpin’ fuel from ma ship into the seas. And I’ll keep it up until I get my gills on that Cosmo Sphere they’re hidin’.”

“I should’ve known.” Before Lethnock could react, he was shot backwards by something he couldn’t see. When he got up, Mila came into view as if from out of nowhere. “I should’ve known that Gingaku would ruin a whole planet just to get their hands on one Cosmo Sphere.”

“I knew ye weren’t inspectors from th’ moment I laid eyes on ya, lassie.”, Lethnock declared. “Ye were too uninformed of ma operation to be Gingaku. Yer one of thoose Rangers I’ve been hearin’ so much aboot.”

“Indeed I am.”, Mila responded. “And I came to this planet for the same thing you’re after.” She then pulled out her Cosmo Sphere. “And I’m not going to let you get your gills on it.” She clicked the sphere into position and inserted it into her Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” She fired a beam from her Morpher, which flew back and hit her, transforming her into the Green Ranger.

Lethnock was unimpressed. “Get her, ye ingrates.” The Detainers tried to attack, but were knocked back by Mila’s Cosmo Blade. “If ye want a job done right, ye hafta do it yerself.” He fired his staff at Mila, who was knocked to the side.

“I am a student of the Verde Academy.”, Mila said. “And I will show you what I’ve learned with my own blade.”

Lethnock fired at her again, only to hit a pathetic dummy, made of straw. “How did she do that so quickly?”, he asked.

“I won’t tell you that.”, Mila said as she appeared behind him, waving her Cosmo Blade around. “She turned invisible again and ran towards Lethnock, delivering multiple slashes to all parts of his body. “And now to finish this.” She took her Cosmo Sphere and inserted it onto her Blade. “Cosmic Seven Slash Attack!” She waved her blade, which extended and hit Lethnock seven times, which blew him up.

However, this activated his growth implant. “Yer cannae get rid of me that easily, lassie.”, he declared.

The other Rangers arrived on the scene. “What happened?”, asked Yuri. “Did we miss anything?”

“Actually, you’re right on time.”, Mila answered him. Everyone pressed their Cosmo Spheres back. “Summon Zords!”

The 5 Zords combined, with Yellow as the right arm, Pink as the left arm, green as the right leg and silver as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s do this.”, Yuri said as he gave a fist pump.

Lethnock stomped around in the deep water. “I guess I’m out of my depth even at this size.”, he said.

“That won’t save you.”, Mila said as she pushed the Megazord forward through the water until it delivered a kick to Lethnock’s chest, sending him into the air.

“We’ll handle this.”, Winda said as she hit the airborne Lethnock multiple times before he was knocked into the water by Slash.

“Let’s end this.”, Yuri said as everyone prepared their Morphers for a final attack. “Cosmic Energy Master Blast!” The Megazord created a bow and arrow with its arms that hit Lethnock head on.

“Aye, you’ve got a bit of a sting to ye.”, Lethnock said as he exploded.

“This Space is ours.”, Yuri said.

* * *

Sometime later, the Rangers returned to the village, where they received a more welcome reception from the villagers. “We found the ship that was dumping the waste into your oceans and closed the leak off.”, Winda told them. “The waters should return to normal soon enough.”

“We owe you our thanks.”, the Elder told them. “If you wish, we will give you our greatest treasure.” He gestured for someone to bring forward a metal box, which was opened to reveal an item wrapped in cloth. “That is, if it’s what you’re searching for.” He removed the cloth to reveal a Cosmo Sphere numbered “86”, which depicted a boat in its symbol.

Mila was happy to see this. “Yes, that is what we came for.”, she said as she picked it up. Then she went over to Kayla. “Thank you for helping us find what we were looking for.”

Layla smiled at this. “Thank you, Miss Mila. I’m glad that we were able to help each other. You get what you were looking for and my people get our planet back.”

Slash was getting impatient. “This touching ‘thank you’ is all well and good, but what about this Sphere? Let’s see where the Fire Knight is already.”

“Alright.”, Mila said as she put the Sphere into her Morpher and knocked it backwards. She then pressed the button on the gauntlet, causing another map to come up, along with the same voice as before.

“ _Congratulations, travellers. You have reached the next step of your quest. There is only one more piece of the puzzle to complete the voyage. This will lead you to that piece.”_

“The voice of the star traveller.”, the Elder said with awe.

“Our quest isn’t over.”, Yuri noted. “Not by a long shot.”

* * *

** Spectrum’s Hideout, Earth. **

Cha-ChaMari ran into Spectrum’s control room. “Master Spectrum, we have an intruder.”, she panted, out of breath.

“Then dispose of them.”, Spectrum said dismissively.

“That’s the trouble.”, was Cha-ChaMari’s reply. “He’s made quick work of everything we throw at him. He’s using a stinger tail similar to yours to fight back.”

Spectrum was now intrigued. “I know exactly who it is.”, he said. “Connect me to his frequency.” A Detainer nodded and pressed a button, which brought up an image of the intruder. “Ah, Myron. I’ve been expecting you.”

“ _I’ll bet you have._ ”, Myron replied. “ _And you probably know why I’m here. I want to talk to you._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off episode 15 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The planet Kakyesu was named because if you take the “no” out of “Miranoi”, you get “Mirai”(future). So I put the word “yes” into “kaku”(past). This indicates that the two are sisters that compliment each other. 
> 
> Lethnock’s name and accent are a reference to the Loch Ness Monster. 
> 
> Mila’s friend Kota (who first appears here in flashbacks) will play a role later on.
> 
> Kaya is named for a character from one of Bhaumik’s unused PR pitches.


	13. Once Stung…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having made his way to the Control Gear where Gingaku operates out of, Myron learns the details of Spectrum’s plan: to overthrow Gingaku.

** The Control Gear. **

Myron was standing in the corridor of Gingaku’s main control centre, watching as Spectrum approached him, along with his purple Detainers. “Ah, brother. It’s good to see you again. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Too long.”, Myron responded, bitterly. “I’ve been through a universe turned into hell, seeing people I trust turn out to be working for the corrupt powers that be. And then I find out that not only are you alive, but you’ve been working for a man like Gingaku.” He insta-morphed into the Orange Ranger, wielding his Cosmonata. “Believe me, angry doesn’t even begin to cover my feelings.”

“So you want to take me down, like the rest of Gingaku?”, Spectrum summarised. “Then I’ll take the first swing.” He ran forward, swinging his own bladed weapon towards his brother, who dodged the hit and defended against another with his own weapon. Myron moved backwards, before swinging backwards to attack with his stinger. But Spectrum kicked it away and continued his onslaught. Spectrum won out after a scuffle and knocked Myron down. “Using your venom to attack a fellow? What would our people think of you?” He plunged his weapon at Myron’s neck, while Myron’s Cosmonata was at his own neck. “So tell me, how did you discover I was still alive?”

“A little Octopeye told me.”, Myron answered him. “I didn’t believe him, but then I found that your science project pest control was being used to subjugate those people.” He then attacked again, pushing his brother against the wall. “Why, Heath? What made you compromise your values?”

“It was merely a dry run.”, Spectrum answered him, before pushing his opponent down and attacking the oncoming Cha-ChaMari, who collapsed to the ground.

“Why did you…?”, Cha-ChaMari wheezed out before collapsing, the life fading from her eyes.

Myron demorphed, surprised to see this. “You attacked one of Gingaku’s eliminators. Why?”

Spectrum turned back towards his brother. “Gingaku accepting me was merely the first stage of my plan. Once I’ve eliminated all of his Area Controllers on Earth, I’ll be relieving him of his control over the universe.”

Myron was shocked to hear this, but still found himself able to ask his next question. “How did you survive whatever infected you in the cave?”

“It wasn’t a disease.”, Spectrum asked him. “My body was altered drastically, as you can see. And for a while, there was another presence in my mind, making it impossible to think straight on just about anything. At times, I even found myself vying for control of my own body against the other presence.”

“What happened to it?”

“Eventually, I found that certain materials could dampen the hold the entity had on me. So I fashioned those materials into the mask you see me wearing.” Spectrum pointed to the eponymous mask. “Now then, will you help me in removing the Area Controllers on this planet? After all, who would suspect the master of Earth’s Control Gear?”

Myron thought about it, then came to a decision. “If it leads to the universe being rid of Gingaku, then I’ll help you with whatever you want, brother.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

In Gingaku’s central chamber, Dark Soul and Cerebron were watching the scene that had just unfolded on a security recording. “ _Now then, will you help me in removing the Area Controllers on this planet? After all, who would suspect the master of Earth’s Control Gear?_ ”

“That traitor.”, Gingaku said angrily. “How dare he plan to overthrow me behind my back.”

“And he has the gall to ask for a new Cha-ChaMari to replace his previous one.”, Cerebron fumed. “We must do something about his betrayal before it can pan out and succeed.”

“And we can.”, Gingaku informed him. “Send the new Cha-ChaMari, as requested. But we will have initiated the Omega Zero solution.”

Cerebron was shocked to hear this. “‘Omega Zero’? But that’s only to be used for extreme cases wherein we cannot keep the planet.”

“Do you think we can keep control of Earth, between Spectrum’s rebellion and the Rangers taking out our Area Controllers and Dark Gears constantly?”, Dark Soul asked “Lord Gingaku, I approve of your decision.”

“Good.”, Gingaku laughed. “We will prepare for launch in the next few days. Neither the Rangers nor Spectrum will know what hit them until it’s too late.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

“We’re back.”, Yuri called out as his away team walked back into the tent where the Rangers were set up, having recently returned from Kakyesu.

“And we got the second of the Cosmo Spheres containing the map to the Fire Knight.”, Mila added. “Plus we took out a Planetary Controller, so I’d call it a successful mission in general.” Then they all noticed the other Rangers standing around someone, or something.

It was Tarrant. “Where’d you find him, after he went off on his own?”, Slash asked.

“He was in the alleyways of Corona City.”, Scales answered him. “We tried switching him back on, but whoever switched him off set it to a time limit, which we can’t remove until he wakes up.”

“Luckily, the time limit doesn’t have long left.”, Commander Drago assured them. “In fact, he should be waking up right about….”

Tarrant suddenly burst awake. “Woah, how did I get back here?” He turned towards the recently returned away team, who had the recently acquired Sail-86 Cosmo Sphere in hand. “Oh, did you complete the mission in the time I was out?”

“Indeed we did.”, Winda answered him. “Speaking of which, why were you out? Who shut you down?”

“It was Myron.”, Tarrant said, to everyone’s shock. “He was making his way to the central Control Gear.”

“What? What’s he thinking, walking straight into enemy territory?”, Jiro asked.

“He went to meet with Spectrum.”, came the answer. “Myron thinks Spectrum is his brother.”

“What?”, Slash asked. “Why would he think that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”, Drago said. “We need to prepare for an attack on that Control Gear. Which mean we’ll have to talk with Commander Goodman.”

“Yeah, like she’ll approve an attack on the enemy’s main base on Earth.”, Slash said sarcastically.

* * *

“I don’t approve of this.”, Goodman said with some anger.

“I told you.”, Slash said under his breath.

“Oh come on, Commander Goodman.”, Drago pleaded. “Myron’s my best man and I’m worried about him.”

“We’re standing right here.”, Yuri commented sarcastically.

“That may be, but I’m not about to sign off on a mission to the strongest guarded enemy base on the planet.” Goodman turned around, with her arms folded. “I can’t risk any lives on this mission, especially since there are many easier targets that wouldn’t waste as many resources.”

As Drago walked away dejected, Winda went over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll try arguing for our case.” She then went over to Goodman. “Commander, I know that you don’t want to put all of your resources into a mission to the Gingaku Control Gear. In fact, I, like you, believe that the mission will more than likely be a foolhardy exercise. However, I find that the more foolhardy of exercises often turn out to be the more likely to succeed. Do you not agree?”

Commander Goodman thought back to her days in high school. She had attempted to sneak into her brother’s military base, and ended up working alongside him in saving the world ( **Author’s note: see Power Rangers Wing Force for more info** ). “Alright, I’ll let you go on this mission.”, she said somewhat reluctantly. “But make sure to come back in one piece.”

“Will do.”, Tarrant said jubilantly, pumping his fist. “So where is this Control Gear anyway?”

“It’s in Angel Grove.”, Yuri answered him.

* * *

** The Control Gear, Angel Grove. **

Spectrum oversaw the city beneath him. He found it darkly ironic; the place where Earth’s heroes the Power Rangers had been born from was now the centre of Gingaku’s conquest. At least for now, while they still held primary control of the planet. Then he was snapped out of his reverie by a Commanaga. “Master, the new drone is here from the Brainworld.”, he reported.

“Excellent.”, Spectrum said. “Have her enter.”

The newest version of Cha-ChaMari entered, flanked by three Detainers, one green, one blue and one silver. “Master Spectrum, I am here to assist you in whatever you deem necessary.”

“Well since you offered, I think I’ll take control of your entourage.” Spectrum jabbed all three of the Detainers with his stinger, turning them purple. “Direct control.”

“Very good sir.”, Cha-ChaMari said. “Will you be using these soldiers in your mission to defeat the Rangers?”

“What was that?” Both Spectrum and Cha-ChaMari turned around to see Myron entering the room. He had swapped out his scavenger clothes for a suit jacket and trousers, with an orange-collared shirt that had the top button undone. “Heath, that wasn’t part of our agreement.”

“Ah Myron, I’m glad you arrived.”, Spectrum said. “You’re about to see me bring another recruit into our plan to overthrow Gingaku.”

But before Spectrum could inject her with his venom, Cha-ChaMari put her hand up. “I pledge allegiance to you of my own will, Master Spectrum. Your enemies are my enemies.”

“That’s nice to hear.”, Spectrum said as he put his stinger away. “Blind loyalty from a mass-produced drone. Now then Myron, I’m sure your friends will come to rescue you soon. We need to be ready for them.”

As Spectrum and Myron walked away, Cha-ChaMari held out a tiny radio, into which she spoke. “I’ve successfully snuck into his operation, Lord Gingaku. I’m going to let him think he’s succeeding in his ambitions and then… Omega Zero will hit him.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers emerged from a secret passageway into a dilapidated room with a bar area. “Man, the rebellion really has some strange infiltration routes.”, Jiro thought. “This is a colourful looking tavern.”

“It’s a juice bar.”, Yuri said, pointing to a sign that read ‘Ernie’s Youth Centre and Juice Bar’. “They were all the rage in the 90s, but I was born slightly afterwards, thank goodness.” As he said this last part, he was thinking of some of the fashions and lingo he had seen present in productions from that era.

“Regardless of local history, we should be going.”, Mila urged. “We don’t know when the Gingaku forces in this area will catch on to our presence here.”

As if on cue, the purple Detainers entered the room and began fighting the Rangers. “Perhaps sooner than we might have anticipated.”, Cobras stated.

“Yeah, you just had to say that, didn’t you Mila?”, Slash snarked as the Ranger began fighting back.

“They shouldn’t have known we would emerge here.”, Winda noted. “This should’ve been an easy in-and-out.”

Scales made a noise of agreement. “That’s a good point. How did they know about our entry route?”

“Because I told them.” Everyone stopped fighting as Myron entered the room. “I memorised the routes enough to provide Spectrum with their specifics.”

Everyone was shocked to see this. “ Myron?”, Tarrant said with shock. “Does this mean Spectrum really is your brother?”

“Did you really betray us to Gingaku?”, Drago asked.

Myron sighed. “To answer your questions in order, yes and no. My brother’s told me what he wants and made me an offer.”

“One you’ve accepted readily, going by those fancy new clothes you’re sporting.”, Mila said spitefully.

“No, I just got tired of wearing the same scavenger getup for years.”, Myron responded. “I’m just going to bring you to Spectrum non-violently, so that he can extend the same offer towards you.” He signalled for the Detainers to escort the Rangers to the Control Gear. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Some time later, the Rangers had been led to a meeting place. Spectrum was waiting there, accompanied by Cha-ChaMari and a pair of Commanagas. “Ah, I see you came just as I anticipated you would.”, Spectrum hissed.

“We’re not here to chat, Spectrum.”, Yuri called out. “We came because we heard you have a proposition.”

“Ah yes, that little tidbit.”, Spectrum said. “My offer is very simple. I’d like to offer you Rangers a place at my side in this conflict.”

The Rangers were all shocked to hear this. “You really expect us to help out Gingaku with their invasion?”, Slash growled.

“He’s not with Gingaku.”, Myron urged them. “That’s merely an act. He’s working to get rid of their control of the universe and free its people.” Spectrum began laughing at this, to Myron’s confusion. “Did I say something funny, brother?”

“It’s just so funny, how you think I’m going to free everyone once I’ve removed Gingaku.”, Spectrum said as he composed himself. “When I get rid of Gingaku, I’m going to continue where he left off and take control of the universe.”

As the Rangers all reacted to this in various ways, Cha-ChaMari stood there, thinking to herself. “Keep talking, traitor. It’ll make my job that much easier.”

“Why you!”, Tarrant declared as he ran towards Spectrum, knocking him backwards, which had the effect of removing the mask from his face, exposing a mismatched eye along with purple veins.

Spectrum then began laughing in another voice altogether, which was almost constantly snarling. “ _ **Thanks for removing that obstacle preventing my total control of this fool’s body. Now I’ll use it to finish you off.”**_

“Oh no you don’t.”, Myron said as he picked up the mask and pushed Spectrum back, before summoning a giant Cosmo Sphere which bounced the two of them away.

“I suppose I’ll just have to finish you while I’m here.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she fired shots at the remaining Rangers, causing Mila, Slash, Winda and Cobras to scatter.

“We’ll have to finish these guys off ourselves.”, Tarrant said as he led the remaining others in setting their Cosmo Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Everyone triggered their Morphs, generating their suits.

“Bring it.”, Cha-ChaMari said. The Rangers ran forward and commenced battle with their enemies. Yuri went straight for the eliminator, who dodged and blocked all of his shots, before knocking him down and continuing to lock weapons. “You’re pretty good.”

“We have to be.”, Tarrant said as he swung his Cosmo Axe at a Commanaga, who was blocked from hitting back by Jiro.

“Go and find Myron.”, Jiro urged. “We could definitely use his help.”

“Will do.” Tarrant dislodged his axe and ran off while Jiro continued using his Cosmo Claw to push the Commanaga back.

“Yuri, you go as well.”, Drago urged as he struggled with the other Commanaga.

“On it.”, Yuri said as he kicked Cha-ChaMari down during a moment of distraction before running off with Tarrant.

* * *

In a nearby quarry, Myron brought himself and Spectrum down in a quarry. “There, now I can shut you away again safely.”, Myron said to the entity possessing Heath.

“ ** _So you figured it out, huh?_** ”, Spectrum asked. “ ** _Well it’s too late. I already prepared for this during a moment where I was in control.”_** A Terrorvore burst out of the ground and began attacking Myron. “ ** _Say hello to Ethel.”_**

“That’s impossible.”, Myron said as he avoided the Terrorvore’s blows and insta-morphed. “We destroyed the Terrorvore.”

“ ** _The original yes.”_** , Spectrum cackled. “ ** _But I took a sample from his remains and used it to create a superior version_**.” The Terrorvore continued its assault. “ ** _You can’t possibly hope to come out on top.”_**

“That would be, if he was alone.” Spectrum turned around to see Yuri and Tarrant approaching. “But he’s with us.”

“ ** _Your friends have come to help you._** ”, Spectrum noted. “ ** _But it won’t matter. Like I said, Ethel has some improvements over her predecessor.”_** He signalled the worm, which promptly tunnelled underground and re-emerged as a giant.

“It can grow on its own.”, Yuri noted, before calling for backup. “I might need some help here.”

“ _We’ll be on our way._ ”, Winda radioed back. “ _Mila, Slash, Cobras, let’s go_.”

“Summon Zord.”, Yuri said as he pumped his Morpher again. The Lion Zord appeared and was combined with Yellow as the right arm, Pink as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Silver as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

The Terrorvore charged at its opponent, thrashing at it with its tendrils.

* * *

Back at the meeting place, Jiro, Scales and Drago were still dealing with the Commanagas using fancy manoeuvres, such as Scales swinging from a rope, before being spun like a top by Jiro to attack the three opponents.

Cha-ChaMari and the two Detainers collapsed on the ground. “Good work, Scales.”, Drago said to the dizzy Gold Ranger. “Let’s finish this.” Everyone prepped their Morphers for a final attack. “Cosmic Energy Blast!”

“Protect me, you fools.” Cha-ChaMari pushed the two Commanagas to the centre of the blast, wherein they exploded. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” With that said, she waved bye-bye and vanished, much to the shock of the other Rangers.

* * *

Elsewhere, the other Rangers were prepping for a final attack. “Cosmic Energy Arrow!” The Eagle Arm drew a line, that the Swordfish Arm pushed forward into the Terrorvore, destroying it.

Down on the ground, Spectrum was making short work of Tarrant. “ ** _So you’re the robot Dr. Cerebron was so proud of? I have to say, I’m disappointed.”_**

“How do you know about my creator?”, Tarrant asked.

“ ** _Let’s just say he and I were close._** ”, Spectrum answered him. “ ** _In fact, we are still quite close, within Gingaku's ranks._** ” He wrapped his body’s stinger around his leg, creating the spike. “ ** _But I won’t let you live long enough to find out what I mean by that.”_** He jumped into the air and came down towards Tarrant, knocking him to the ground and dispersing his Morph. His Cosmo Morpher fell to the side, exploding into pieces.

“Tarrant!”, Myron cried out.

“ ** _Oh dear, I seem to have broken your favourite toy.”_** , Spectrum laughed mockingly.

“Myron… I’m sorry.”, Tarrant got out before his body exploded into pieces, with the Bull-05 Sphere landing at Myron’s feet.

The other Rangers all showed up at that exact moment. “It can’t be.”, Mila said as she surveyed the debris. “He… destroyed Tarrant.”

Myron, now determined, picked up the mask Spectrum had worn once more and ran towards his opponent, putting the mask back on him. Spectrum immediately breathed, and returned to Heath’s voice. “What happened? Where am I?” He then looked around and saw the carnage. “He got out, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did.”, Myron said as he dispersed his Morph. He then reached over and picked up Tarrant’s Cosmo Sphere. “I’m going to help you, in taking out the Area Controllers. But you have to do something for me.”

“I see.”, Spectrum said as he used his stinger to gather all the debris from Tarrant around them. “Welcome to my team, Myron.”

The other Rangers were shocked at this. “Myron, you can’t really be…”, Mila asked.

“Of course I can.”, Myron said as he fired a warning shot at her with his Morpher. “After all, blood is thicker than water. Next time we meet, it won’t be as friends.” With that said, he and Spectrum teleported out with Tarrant’s parts, leaving the remaining 8 Rangers staring in confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 16 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The death of Champ was retained for Tarrant because A) it shows that not even the “good” monsters are immune to destruction, B) because I had an idea of what to do with it and C) to provide Myron with some additional emotional weight.
> 
> Spectrum being the result of Heath influenced by a different personality was a recent change I introduced to justify where I wanted to go with the character later on.


	14. Blinded by the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Spectrum and Myron wiping out the Area Controllers on Earth, the Rangers decide to help one of the last few. Unfortunately, that proves easier said than done.

** Essay, France. **

A Commanaga stumbled into the control room of the Dark Gear. “Mayday, mayday!”, he urged into a radio. “We are under attack from an unknown force. The Controller is dead. Send help from the Central Control -”

But he was hit from behind by a stinger tail. “The Control Gear won’t be helping you. In fact, you’re going to be dedicating the rest of your life to helping the Control Gear.”, Myron informed him. “Just be grateful you’re not gong to be awake for it.” As the Commanaga assumed the trademark zombie gait of other virus victims, Myron turned towards the power console. “And now to shut this Dark Gear down.” He plunged his stinger into the console, destroying it and cutting off power to the cameras.

* * *

** The Control Gear. **

Spectrum and Cha-ChaMari observed as the marker for Essay went dark. “That’s another job handled successfully by my brother.”, Spectrum noted. “There’s only one more Controller to take out, before we can claim total control of Earth’s forces.”

“Yes, the one in Yanaka, Japan.”, Cha-ChaMari nodded. “But what about the one that escaped, Grimpanzee?”

“Ah yes, Bucchan’s assistant.”, Spectrum responded. “He stands no threat on his own. If he wants revenge, he’ll eventually show his face. And then Myron and or the Rangers will take him out.” He began laughing. “Nothing can stand in my way now. Nothing.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”, Cha-ChaMari thought to herself. “Omega-Zero should be taking off right about now.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Pamela ran into the Comamnder’s tent. “Ma’am, this is the latest report on Gingaku’s controlled areas.”, she gasped out as she handed her superior a piece of paper.

Commander Goodman read the paper and wasn’t reassured. “Spectrum’s taken out another Area Controller, this one in France. I’d be happy under normal circumstances, except we know why he was taken out.”

Drago nodded. “And what’s worse, the Control Gear has moved since we launched our unsuccessful attack on it. We can’t locate it and stop these attacks at the source.”

“What can we do?”, Pamela asked. “We’re down by two Rangers and there’s only one Dark Gear left safe.”

“Then I suggest we focus on finding and forging an alliance of convenience with that Area Controller.”, Goodman answered her. “Where is he?”

“In Japan Ma’am, in the area known as Yanaka.”

“I’ll take the Rangers to that area.”, Drago declared. “If we fail there, then we’re going to have to prepare for an all-out war with Spectrum.”

* * *

** The Control Gear. **

Cha-ChaMari walked into the room that had been adopted as a laboratory by Myron. “My my, aren’t we spoiled?”, she commented. She looked past the under-construction robot and over to where Myron was working on something. “What’s that?”, she asked.

Myron was annoyed to see her. “If you must know, I’m working on trying to create two new Cosmo Spheres for my own use. One based on the Sun and one based on the Moon.” Sure enough, there were two spheres, one red with a spiked frame and the other yellow with a curved frame.

“So, you can create your own Cosmo Spheres now?”, Cha-ChaMari asked.

Myron shook his head. “Right now, my notes only go up to a certain point. Both of these can only produce half the power of a normal Cosmo Sphere.”

“Let me see that.” Cha-ChaMari grabbed and pocketed the notes. “If they’re only half powerful, why not simply make them into one fully powered Cosmo Sphere? With two sides?” With that said, she began to walk out of the lab, but not before commenting. “Your next assignment is in Yanaka, Japan. Don’t take too long.”

Myron thought about what Cha-ChaMari said and realised she had a point. “I’ve got some time.”, he said to himself as he took the two Spheres and began doing something with them.

* * *

** Just outside Yanaka, Japan. **

The 8 Rangers landed on the ground just outside the city. “Alright, this is an easy enough operation to get through.”, Yuri said. “Go into the district, find the Area Controller and make a deal with him to stop Spectrum.”

“I like the sound of that.”, Slash said as he flexed his wrists. “Let’s get on with it.”

As he said that, a large dome began to form on the other end of the city and envelop the rest. “I assume that isn’t normal for Earth cities.”, Cobras asked.

“Negative, Earth cities generally do not have domes that close them off from everything.”, Winda answered.

“There are some places on Bekaren 7 like that though.”, Scales commented.

“Never mind that now.”, Mila exclaimed. “We need to get in there ‘before’ it closes off.”

Everyone ran for the city, but Drago, Cobras and Slash weren’t able to make it in time. “Great, what’re we supposed to do? Sit here and play cards?”, Slash asked.

“We could try using our Zords to dig our way in.”, Drago suggested. “And before you ask, we don’t have a Cosmo Sphere with a drilling power.”

Before they could do anything, the three were shot at. They turned around to see Myron approaching them. He was now wearing a set of sunglasses in addition to his new suit. “I see that you’re as stuck out here as I am.”

“You are.”, Slash said with some anger, as he prepared his Cosmo Sphere. “But now that you’re here, I’m going to make sure you don’t leave.”

Myron smiled at this, as he threw his sunglasses away. “Confident, aren’t you? You’re forgetting that I could hold my own with Tarrant.” He pulled out the Unicorn-27 Sphere. “Plus I have something you don’t.”

Slash growled and inserted his Sphere into his Morpher, running forward. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

Myron did the same motions with his Unicorn Sphere. “Plus Up!” The two were now Morphed into the Yellow Ranger and Orange Ranger Double Sting Mode. They began fighting with each other.

“I should join in.”, Cobras said as he prepared his Sphere and placed it in his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He morphed into the Silver Ranger and joined the brawl.

Drago sighed. “If you can’t beat ‘em…”, he said before inserting his Sphere. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” The Dragon Ranger joined the fray.

From the sidelines, a presence observed the battle. “Yes, I’ll let them soften each other up, before striking.”

* * *

** Yanaka, Japan. **

The other Rangers realised that they were alone on the other side of the barrier. “The others don’t seem to have made it through.”, Winda pointed out.

“Ya think?”, Jiro asked. “So whadda we do to find this Controller guy?”

“That’s simple.”, Yuri said. “We have a Cosmo Sphere that can locate authority figures. We just need a chance to get it out and use it.”

“ _Who are you?_ ”, a scratchy voice echoed throughout the area. “ _Get out_.”

“Who are you?”, Mila asked. “Do you know the Area Controller?”

“ _I’m Darneko. And I AM the Area Controller._ ”, the voice replied.

“Well, that makes things easy.”, Scales said. “We’re here to talk with you, about your own safety. There’s some guys coming here to kill you and take control of your army. If you agree, we can help you.”

“ _Liar_!”, Darneko’s voice echoed before he manifested in front of them. He was a cat-like alien with a top hat. “You just want to take away my kingdom for yourselves.”

“Ah, that explains your personality AND this dome.”, Mila commented. “He’s a Yamadon, a race that functions more effectively in dark areas. Bumped into a few of them when I first set off into the universe. Very territorial and stubborn.”

“See, you already know about me.”, Darneko pointed. “You’re prepared to destroy me and take over. I won’t let that happen.” He threw up some small pods that grew into Detainer helmets and latched onto the heads of nearby civilians, turning them into Detainers. “And I won’t let you. Attack, my minions.” He then disappeared into the shadows again as the Detainers engaged in a fight with the Rangers.

However, in the ensuing fight, the Rangers made quick work of them. “Great, we find the guy we’re looking for and he turns out to be totally nuts.”, Yuri said bitterly. “I don’t know about you, but I’m fully supporting Spectrum and Myron taking this guy out.”

“Me too, but there’s no chance of them coming here.”, Mila pointed out. “We’ll have to take him out ourselves and save the people here.”

“Well, we’d better dress for the occasion.”, Yuri said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. Everyone else took the hint and pulled theirs out. “It’s Morphing Time!” Everyone clicked their Spheres into position, summoning their Morphers. They then inserted the Spheres and pushed them forward. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They fired beams which redirected and hit them, generating their Ranger suits.

“I’ll go into the sky and see if I can locate him.”, Winda said as she leapt into the air and started flying around the city.

“The rest of you, fan out and then meet up when we’re done.”, Yuri said. The others nodded and set off.

* * *

Outside the dome, Myron was still fighting his old teammates and coming out on top. “You’re fighting a losing battle.”, he said as he slashed at them with his horn arm. “I know all your tricks and I can anticipate anything else you try. It’s futile, just like it’s futile trying to fight inside that dome.”

“You know about the dome.”, Cobras asked.

“Yes, they’re created by a species known as Yamadons to support their abilities.” He held up a Cosmo Sphere that had two ends, labelled “Sun” and “Moon”. “You’d need something like this to even stand a chance.”

Then the four of them were blasted by another entity. Everyone turned to see a armoured, ape-like being in a tunic standing nearby. “Now I’ve got the chance to take you out. You left yourself open.”

Everyone was confused by this. “Who are you?”, Slash asked.

“The name’s ‘Grimpanzee’.”, the newcomer growled. “Your friend took out my boss Bucchan so now I’m going to get him back by taking out his friend.”

He charged towards Myron, who ended up wrestling with him. “I can’t believe this.”, he said with resignation, before knocking his opponent back.

Grimpanzee got back up and began beating his chest. “You’ll regret that.”, he growled before being blasted back by Slash and Cobras. As the two Rangers joined the fray, Drago took advantage of this opportunity to grab the dropped Dual Sphere, summoning his Zord and began tunnelling beneath the dome.

* * *

Within the dome, the Rangers met up once again. “Any luck?”

“No.”, Winda said. “Just a couple of dogs getting territorial.”

“This is hopeless.”, Scales said. “How are we supposed to find this guy if he won’t show up?”

“We make him show up.”, Mila said. “We need to appeal to his vanity. Or rather, appeal against it.”

“I see.”, Yuri said. “Let’s get around to it.”

Everyone but Scales stepped out onto an open field. Jiro was the first to begin yelling. “That loser Darneko is going down.”

“He’s no match for our combined power.”, Winda said waving her arms.

“His skills probably stink as well.”, Mila added, doing the motions.

“He couldn’t hit me if I made it easy.”, Yuri shouted as he held his arms out.

“ _Why you!_ ”, Darneko’s voice echoed as Jiro was hit by an unseen force, which made its way to Mila, Winda and Yuri in that order., before returning to Jiro. “ _I knew you were here to take my stuff_.”

“Where’s he coming from?”, Jiro asked as he uprighted himself onto his knees.

Darneko continued his attacks, with Yuri getting up and brushing himself off. “Like I said, that doesn’t hurt at all.”

“ _Oh really?_ ” Darneko attacked Yuri again, still remaining unseen.

“Hey girls, draw his ire for me.”, Jiro suggested.

“Okay.”, Winda and Mila shouted in unison, before beginning to yell out their next insult. “Darneko is nothing but a biiig dummy.” Before they could be hit, Mila went invisible while Winda took off.

“ _That won’t help you, vanisher._ ”, Darneko declared as he managed to scratch Mila anyway, knocking her back into visibility. “ _Or you, winged one._ ” He jumped up and knocked Winda down to Earth, where she was caught by Yuri and Jiro, who collapsed under her weight.

Scales then ran forward. “He’s using the shadows to attack us.”, he said. “That’s why he can hit us no matter what we do.”

“That won’t help you, outsiders.”, Darneko said as he popped up in Jiro’s shadow and began attacking him more.

It was then that Dragon Ranger appeared, brandishing his cane. “Not on their own anyway.” He held up the Sphere he had picked up. “Here, Yuri. Try this out.” He tossed it to Yuri, who caught it.

“Alright, let’s try it out.”, he said as he inserted the ‘Sun’ end into his Morpher, pushing it forward. “Hyper Plus Up!” He was surrounded by a burning sun, which coalesced into a decoration on his head. “Power of the Sun, Solar Red Ranger!”

The energy surrounded everyone, blinding them. Yuri then ran over to Winda. “Alright, let’s see what we can do.”

“I see.”, Winda said as she grabbed him by his legs and took off.

Yuri then pressed the top of the new Cosmo Sphere, creating a bright light that eradicated the shadows and knocked Darneko back. “No, my precious shadows. You destroyed them.”

Scales absorbed more of the light. “Alright, I’m feeling supercharged.”, he declared, striking a pose before speeding towards Darneko. “Solar Scales Flurry!” He delivered several punches to his opponent, who was punched into the ceiling. “And that’s not all I can do.” He leapt up and grabbed Yuri, before spinning him around and throwing him at the Dark Gear.

“There’s no retreat into a Gearoid this time.”, Yuri said as he pressed the top of the Dual Sphere. “Solar Crash!” He hit the Dark Gear with incredible force, destroying it and dispersing the dome to reveal darkness.

* * *

Outside the dome, Slash, Cobras and Myron noticed the dome dispersing. “Looks like they’ve shut down Darneko’s dome.”, Myron commented.

“That’s good for them, but not so good for you.”, Grimpanzee declared as he continued his assault on the three.

* * *

Yuri landed on the ground, causing the Dual Sphere to switch to the ‘Moon’ side. “Let’s see what this does.”, he said as he pulled it forward from his position. “Hyper Plus Up Rotation!” The sun on his helmet was replaced with a crescent moon. “Power of the Moon, Lunar Red Ranger.”, he said solemnly.

“Does he seem different all of a sudden?”, Winda asked.

“I don’t know.”, Mila responded.

Darneko stumbled forward. “I’m not done yet.”

Suddenly, Jiro found himself trembling, before his posture improved, as did his speech. “Well now, look who doesn’t realise he has been verily thwarted.”, he said. “I’ll just have to deal with this blaggard.”

“Deal with this.”, Darneko said as he fired beams from his fingers. Jiro merely scratched them away with his claws, before speeding up to the Area Controller and scratching him rapidly.

“What’s happened to Jiro?”, Mila, Winda and Scales all asked in unison.

“The moonlight has brought out his true strength.”, Yuri commented.

Jiro grabbed Darneko’s chest and punched him back. “That’s you down for the count.”, he commented.

Yuri pushed Jiro out of the way. “And I’ll make sure that he stays that way.” He pressed the top of his Dual Sphere twice, creating red and yellow orbs which merged into a sun/moon logo. “Eclipse Attack!” He launched the energy at Darneko, enveloping him in fire.

“And that’s goodnight.”, Darneko commented as he exploded. Yuri then removed the Dual Sphere, reverting to normal.

“We did it.”, Scales said as he high-fived Jiro.

Then Darneko’s growth implant exploded, making him a giant. “This night is still young.”, he declared.

“I’ll handle this one.”, Drago said. “Jiro, Scales, would you care to join me?”

“You know it.”, the two gave a thumbs up.

“Alright, let’s get on with it.”, Drago said as he led the two in preparing. “Summon Zords.”

The three Zords combined, with Gold as the left arm and Blue as the right arm. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

Darneko fired his beams, which Scales deflected before Jiro punched forward, knocking him back. “Let’s do it together.”, he latter called out.

“Got it.”, Scales replied. The two arms hit Darneko at the same time, before he was kicked backwards.

“Let’s finish this.”, Drago said as he prepared for a final attack. “Cosmic Dragon Rotation Blast!” The three beams combined and hit Darneko directly.

“Just like a cat in the night.”, Darneko declared as he exploded again.

“This Space is mine.”, Sclaes and Jiro both declared.

“You mean ‘ours’.”, the Commander interrupted.

* * *

Elsewhere, Grimpanzee had managed to overwhelm the three Rangers. “You’re too weak. You can’t hope to defeat me.”, he boasted.

“What about us?” Everyone turned to see Yuri, accompanied by Mila and Winda. “Especially since we’ve got a new toy to show off.”

“Hey, that my experimental Sun/Moon Sphere.”, Myron realised.

Yuri threw the Dual Sphere to Winda. “How about you try it out.”

“I’d love to.”, she said as she inserted the ‘Moon’ side into her Morpher. “Hyper Plus Up!” She generated the same crescent moon on her helmet. “Let’s see how you do under the moonlight.” She pressed the top of the Sphere, creating a pitch-blackness.

Grimpanzee was blinded. “Where are you? What did you do?” Then he had a realisation. “If I can’t see under this nightlight, then neither can you.”

“Think again.”, Mila was able to land several hits on him while invisible. “I’m a chameleon and a ninja, two things that work very well in the dark.”

“Let’s change things up.”, Winda said, throwing the Sphere to Mila, who inserted the ‘Sun’ side into her Morpher.

“Hyper Plus Up!” The Darkness was replaced with a blinding light, which left Grimpanzee equally as blinded as the darkness. “Let’s see what this environment does for us.”

Winda flew down at great speed towards the monkey-man, delivering several high-speed slashes. “It’s easier to land hits in the light.”

As the lighting returned to normal, Yuri, Mila and Winda were standing in front of Grimpanzee. “Time to end this.”, Yuri said as he led the other two in placing their Cosmo Spheres onto their weapons. “Cosmic Energy Slash!”

“Cosmic Energy Strike!”, Mila added

“Cosmic Energy Blast!”, Winda concluded.

The three beams came together into one, which hit Grimpanzee, causing him to spark. “You defeated me? That’s bananas.”, the monkey declared as he exploded.

“Two monsters in one day. I’d call that a good job, team.”, Yuri said.

“For you maybe.”, Myron said as he got up, reverting to normal. “But I’m not part of your team anymore, in case you’ve forgotten. Now I’ve got to explain why I didn’t bring back more troops for Spectrum’s army.” He began to walk off. “Keep the Sphere. You might need it in the future.”

The 5 Rangers could only watch as their former ally walked off, heading for who knew where.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

“ _Is Omega Zero ready to go?_ ”, Gingaku asked.

“The fleet is en route to Earth as we speak.”, Cerebron responded. “The planet will be gone by the end of the third day from now.”

“ _Excellent_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 17 of Kyuranger.
> 
> After how dark the last chapter was, I decided to keep this one slightly lighter, but not overtly so. 
> 
> Grimpanzee is based on Sally from Gokaiger. Making him an old friend of Bucchan was my way of acknowledging the relationship between their counterparts.


	15. Rumble in the Jungle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers hunt for the final of the three Cosmo Spheres on the jungle planet KO-17. But they (and Gingaku) soon find that the trees have other ideas. Meanwhile, Winda sees something worrying in space.

** (Former) Grid Battleforce HQ, Coral Harbour. **

Myron burst into an abandoned laboratory with his Commanaga escort. “Remind we why we came to this dump again?”, the escort asked. “No-one’s stepped foot in here for years.”

“Because there’s something here.”, Myron answered him. “Something Spectrum doesn’t want the Rangers or the Rebellion getting their hands on.” He looked around the room, ostensibly in search of his target, but taking in everything else. “To think. A couple of years ago, this place was the centre for a new energy source. It was meant to have solved all of Earth’s problems.”

The escort laughed at this. “We don’t need any of their stupid eco-energy. The Dark Gear generates its own power simply by operating. Let’s just get what we came for and get out.” He approached another door, only to end up in the sights of a camera.

“Scanning for security passes.”, the camera voice buzzed as it hit the two intruders with a golden beam. “No security passes detected. Now responding.” It deployed a cannon from the wall, but Myron smashed the camera before it could fire said weapon.

“Say what you will about their energy sources, but they put together a pretty effective security system.”, Myron then went over to the doors and forced them open. Inside was a cache of various swords, blasters and phones. “All of these were used by Power Rangers of Earth in the past.”

“How did they end up here?”, asked the escort.

“That’s not important.”, Myron said as he started picking up the items and placing them into boxes. “Spectrum wants them destroyed or given to his army. Whichever is more possible given these weapons.” The escort nodded and began grabbing and boxing the weapons, while Myron went over to a cupboard. “Meanwhile, I’ll take something else for myself.” He opened it to reveal a set of conical devices.

* * *

** Rebellion Camp. **

Pamela ran into the Commander’s tent. “Ma’am, we’ve got word of another abandoned base being attacked by Spectrum’s forces.” She handed the note to Goodman, who read it, before shaking her head.

“That’s the eighth weapons outpost they’ve targeted in a few days.”, she said. “We need to think of a pattern and see where it leads next. Then we could get to one of them before Spectrum gets his pincers on it.”

“Well let’s see, they’ve hit Angel Grove, Mariner Bay, Blue Bay Harbour, Reefside, San Angeles, Summer Cove, Harwood County and now Coral Harbour. They’re targeting every known location where Power Rangers have shown up. At a guess, Briarwood is their next target. Followed by Ocean Bluff and Panorama City. And we’re too far from any of those. They’ll have hit every cache of Ranger weapons before we can get our hands on them.”

“Not all of them.”, the Commander had a realisation. “There is at least one base Spectrum doesn’t know about. Heck, most of the world at large doesn’t know about it.” She wrote down a set of co-ordinates on the paper and gave it back to Pamela. “Take a team to these co-ordinates in Newinthal.”

Pamela was confused by this. “Newinthal? But that town was only finished around the time the original Power Rangers first showed up.”

“Correction: the town was REBUILT around that time. Before that, it was known as Winter Valley.”, Goodman specified. “And this base is part of a secret the government’s been keeping a secret for a long time. But now, we need what’s in that vault more than ever.” She turned away from Pamela and continued speaking. “Because I doubt the Power Rangers will be enough this time.”

* * *

In their own part of the camp, the Rangers were having their own meeting. “I’ve been in contact with my friend Teddy, telling him about our situation.”, Drago reported. He says that he’s letting Barry come our way to help out.”

“That’s good news.”, Mila nodded. “With Tarrant destroyed and Myron helping Spectrum, we need everything we can get.”

“I also have something to report.”, Winda commented. “I have analysed the Sail-86 Sphere to find the location of the final piece of the map to the Fire Knight.”

“That’s good to hear.”, Yuri replied. “Where is it?”

“A planet known as KO-17”, came the answer. “It was the 16th planet to be colonised by the people of Khepri Omega after their original home’s destruction. It was abandoned 600 years ago. They are currently on KO-42.”

“Time to pick our away team for this mission.” Drago took everyone’s Cosmo Spheres and inserted them into his roulette wheel, spinning it around. Eventually, five Spheres emerged, specifically the ones belonging to Yuri, Mila, Scales, Cobras and Slash. “Well, our away team has been decided.”

Slash looked nervous about this. “I don’t know, couldn’t I swap out for this mission? Without Winda stabilising the Megazord, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

“I’ll go with you to provide stabilisation.”, Winda chimed in. “Spectrum is unlikely to act against us while only Drago and Jiro are on Earth, especially since recent reports indicate he is targeting previous Ranger bases for their resources.”

“So that’s settled then.”, Drago said. “Rangers, move out!”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku was in a holographic conference with one of his agents, a cybernetic being with wood-like skin, blue hair, tubes emerging from his cybernetics and a claw for a left arm. “Report, Coiloga.”, Gingaku said. “What is the status of your search?”

“ _We’re making good progress, my Lord._ ”, Coiloga said in response. He spoke with a distinctive voice. “ _I’ve determined the final of the three Cosmo Spheres to be on the planet KO-17 in the Keel System. It’s been abandoned for centuries._ ”

“Don’t let me down in obtaining it.”, Gingaku yelled, pounding his fist against his chair to enunciate his point. “You’re one of my best generals, which is why I chose you to make sure nothing goes wrong with this recovery.”

“ _And it won’t. My man will have the Sphere before the Rangers can even get here._ ” He then signed off.

“I hope so.”, Gingaku said as he brought up a graphic of space. “I want the Rangers defeated either before or during Omega Zero. Which won’t be long now.”

* * *

** Coiloga’s Ship. **

Coiloga brought up another call, this one with his agent. Said agent was Blockhead, a silicon-based lifeform, with a ceremonial looking head and a vine of ivy sprouting from his shoulder. “Report, Blockhead. How goes the search?”

“ _I have landed on the planet’s surface._ ”, Blockhead responded. “ _Sensors indicate I’m the only animal life on this planet. I’m now going to search all possible ruins. That Cosmo Sphere will be somewhere._ ”

“For your sake, I hope it is.”, Coiloga informed him. “Gingaku will accept nothing short of total success. And neither will I.” With that said, he hung off.

* * *

** 35000 Miles Above KO-17. **

The Winger Cosmo Megazord flew in over the planet. “We’re coming in to planetary orbit now.”, Winda radioed to the others. “I’ll drop you off in a few hundred feet.”

“Why not do it here?”, Scales asked. “I’m sure we can make planet fall from here.”

“We will not have ample time to separate safely if we do that.”, Cobras answered him. “We will burn up upon re-entry.”

“We’re coming into the drop zone now.”, Winda radioed as the Megazord approached the planet’s atmosphere. “Now detaching Eagle Zord.” The Eagle Zord came loose and took off, as the Megazord continued towards the planet. However, as she set off back towards Earth, Winda saw something shocking. “That’s a large number. I can barely calculate it,”, she said with horror.

* * *

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

Jiro and Drago were sitting back, when they received a message. The voice on the other end was Winda. “ _Mayday! Mayday! I’ve found myself caught up in something en route back to Earth. Request immediate assistance.”_

“I’ll go help her.”, Jiro said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and took off running. “If it’s serious, we’ll catch up with the others.”

“Great.”, Drago said. “That leaves me on my own.”

“Not quite on your own, big guy.” Drago looked up to see a familiar child standing in the other doorway. “After all, I came back to help you.”

Drago went over and hugged him. “It’s good to see you too, Barry. I suppose I should fill you in on the situation.”

* * *

** Planet KO-17 **

The 5 Rangers landed on the planet’s surface, reverting to their unmorphed appearances. They looked around seeing that they were surrounded by woodlands. “Are we sure this planet was inhabited once?”, Slash asked. “Because it looks like nobody’s touched this planet in… ever.”

“I can detect some structures on this planet.”, Scales informed him. “But that’s about all I can do. Something’s interfering with our communications frequencies.”

As if on cue, a woman appeared in front of them. She was blonde, wearing a green-blue dress and wielding a staff. “Leave this place if you know what’s good for you.”

Yuri looked closely at the woman’s staff. “That jewel… it’s a Cosmo Sphere.”

“Well, that was easy.”, Mila said, walking towards the woman. “Can we take that Cosmo Sphere in your staff?”

“None may take the sacred jewel from its sacred place.”, the woman responded. “I, Carina, have decreed it.”

“Please.”, Yuri got down on his knees. “We need that to help us in a quest.”

“Yeah.”, Scales said as he mimicked Yuri. “It’s important we get it.”

“The other visitor said the same thing.”, Carina told them. “I wish to see your conviction and if it is stronger than his. If it is, then you will be allowed to take the ‘Cosmo Sphere’.” Vines began to descend from the trees, grabbing onto the Rangers and pulling them away.

“Hey! What is this?”, Cobras hissed as he and the others were dragged away.

“You must be prepared.”, Carina stated them. “The trial will begin soon.”

* * *

** Abandoned Air Base 9218, Newinthal. **

Pamela lead a team into the building. “Okay, troops. Be on the look out. This place may not have seen use in 35 years, but who knows what surprises were left behind.”

“I’m sure we would, since the Commander said she served in this place.”, one of the soldiers, Jesse, sarcastically responded. “And we weren’t told about anything.”

“That’ll be all, private.”, Pamela told him. “Let’s keep looking. The Commander said that there’s some weapons we can use somewhere in here.”

Everyone began looking around the base, seeing what they could find. Some soldiers found corridors with talon marks, others found an old control room, with technical readouts that hadn’t been used in years. Pamela in particular found a large loading bay with a trio of robots, but dismissed them as two old to be of much use. Eventually, trooper Davis found a box, containing several red and white guns. “Ma’am, do you think this is it?”

Pamela looked over the contents, smiling. “Yes, I think this is what we’re after. “Let’s load up on these.”

* * *

** Planet KO-17. **

The five Rangers were dumped by the vines into a clearing. “Well this is going well.”, Slash commented. “Who’s this ‘other visitor’ that Carina chick was talking about?”

His question soon answered itself, when Blockhead was also dumped into the clearing. “Why am I not surprised you Rangers are here?”, he asked. “I, a lowly agent of Gingaku, can’t be allowed to simply pick up a simple item.”

“He’s with Gingaku.”, Mila said, confrontationally pushing everyone backwards. “What do you want here?”

* * *

** Coiloga’s Ship. **

From orbit, Coiloga saw what his servant was seeing. In particular, the face of the Red Ranger. “Ahhh.”

* * *

** Planet KO-17 **

“Isn’t it obvious?”, Blockhead responded to Mila’s question. “The last of the three Spheres leading to the Fire Knight. Problem is, that lady won’t give it up easily.”

As if on cue, Carina reappeared, standing above them. “Both of you claim to have come for the Cosmo Sphere I was charged with protecting. However, I was told to only pass it on to those with the strongest conviction. A fact I will now have you test.” She banged her staff on the ground. “In a battle to the finish.”

“I guess we’ve got no choice.”, Yuri said as he prepped his Cosmo Sphere, which the others followed him in doing. “It’s Morphing Time!” After sliding them into formation, their Morphers appeared, and the Spheres were accordingly inserted. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They pulled on their triggers, firing waves of energy that surrounded them, turning them into Power Rangers.

Carina was surprised to see this. “Could they be the warriors that were foretold?”, she thought.

“I’ll start us off.”, Mila said as she inserted a Cosmo Sphere. “Chisel-69 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” She fired a series of energy projectiles shaped like carving tools at the enemy. However, this simply damaged his face. “Well, it was worth the shot.”

“And this’ll be worth the punch.”, Blockhead announced as he hit her back with his fists. The other Rangers began attacking him, but his rock-hard skin prevented them from harming him. Any hits they dealt him, he responded by knocking them back. “You can’t hurt me. My skin can’t be penetrated.”

“That’s true.”, Yuri said as he swung his Cosmo Saber again, only for it to be deflected. “But don’t think that mean we won’t try.” He pulled out the Sun/Moon Dual Sphere. “Hyper Plus Up!”, he declared, inserting the Sun end into his Morpher, before pressing it forward and pressing the top. He ran forward, transforming into the Solar Red Ranger. “Let’s see how you like the heat.” He launched a barrage of fiery punches and kicks, which caused Blockhead to fall backwards, his skin glowing red.

“Rocks don’t stand up to heat well, do they?”, Mila asked as she attacked Blockhead once more, injuring him severely. “Quickly, let’s finish him off before he can cool down.”

“Don’t have to tell us twice.”, Scales said as everyone but Yuri pulled their Cosmo Spheres back twice, initiating a Final Attack. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” Everyone fired their beams at Blockhead, causing him to explode.

However, Blockhead’s Growth Implant exploded, bringing him back as a giant. “I’m gonna turn you to rubble.”, he announced.

“They just don’t learn, do they?”, Yuri said as he reverted to normal. “Let’s do this. You know the drill.”

“Yes we do.”, Cobras said, as the others copied him. “Summon Zords!” Everyone’s Zords appeared and combined, with Yellow forming the right arm, Green forming the left arm, Silver forming the right leg and Gold forming the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s finish this guy, get the Sphere and go home.”, Yuri told the others.

“Roger.”, the others all saluted.

The Megazord charged at Blockhead, but as before, their hits bounced off, while his did real damage. “You can’t defeat me.”, he declared as he launched one of his fists at the Rangers, knocking them back further.

“Guess we’ll just have to bring the heat again.”, Yuri said as he inserted the Dual Sphere’s ‘sun’ end again. “Hyper Plus Up!” He transformed once again. “Power of the Sun, Solar Red Ranger!”

A light emanated from the central cockpit, energising Gold and Silver. “Man, I’ll never get tired of this.”, Scales said as he energy surrounded him.

“Let’s finish this statue.”, Cobras said as he also absorbed the energy.

“Did Cobras just… make a one-liner?”, Yuri asked.

“Who cares? Let’s do this.”, Scales and Cobras said in unison.

“Alright!”, Yuri said as he pressed the top of the Dual Sphere. “Eclipse Attack!” The Megazord jumped up and began kicking Blockhead rapidly.

“No stop, that hurts.”, Blockhead called out as he was pushed near his ship.

Yuri then reverted to normal. “Alright, let’s finish this.” Everyone prepped for a final attack. “Cosmic Energy Burst!” The Megazord fired a beam of energy at Blockhead and his ship.

“I’m feeling shattered!”, Blockhead declared as he and his ship exploded.

“This Space is ours.”, the Rangers declared.

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Myron was working on something. “This will make things right again.”, he thought, before looking over to the nearly repaired body of Tarrant. “I saved you once, and I’m going to do it again. Just hang in there.”

* * *

** Coiloga’s Ship. **

Coiloga laughed at what had happened. “You can keep that Cosmo Sphere, Rangers. I’ve found something much more valuable.”

* * *

** Planet KO-17. **

The Rangers landed back on the ground, where they were greeted by Carina. “So, was our conviction strong enough for you?”, Yuri asked, turning back to his human appearance.

“It was… satisfactory.”, Carina told them. She removed the Sphere from her staff, showing off that it had the number ‘87’. “It’s a shame really, I’ve been lonely since the Khepri Omegans left my surface. I took on the role of guardian to see if others would come. Well, I can only wish you safe passage once you leave my atmosphere.” She then gave the Sphere to Yuri, before dissolving into the ground.

“Wait a minute! Have we been talking to a planet this whole time?”, Scales asked.

“A rather reasonable planet at that.”, Yuri said as he inserted the Sphere into his Morpher. But instead of the expected map, a message was projected, depicting a bird man in a cape.

“ _The three lights must be brought together._ ”, the bird man said. “ _Then the path will be opened._ ” With that said, the message vanished.

Before any of the Rangers could question it, they were greeted by the arrival of both Winda and Jiro, both in their Ranger suits. “Everyone, we have a problem.”, Winda informed them. “An Omega Zero has been declared.”

“And for those of us not in the know on galactic police codes?”, Yuri asked.

“Omega Zero is a protocol that anyone with any moral abandoned years ago.”, Jiro told him. “But Gingaku doesn’t have any morals, as it turns out, to no-one’s surprise. When a planet is deemed impossible to maintain a hold on, then Omega Zero is the order to scorch the planet until nothing survives. They have Dark Gears pulling that dirty duty.”

“How many Dark Gears?”, Scales asked.

“At a rough estimate, numbering in the tens of thousands.”, Winda answered.

“That’s not good.”, Mila realised. “Where are they headed for?”

“Earth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 19 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The appearance of GB’s Ranger Vault was inspired by its appearance on the show, which caused me to make a yellow revision to my plan for the finale of this arc. 
> 
> So know you know, Omega-Zero is the invasion of Moraimarz Robos from Kyuranger. The difference is that instead of being Spectrum’s plan, it was made in OPPOSITION to his plans.
> 
> Newinthal is a corruption of New Winter Valley, the name given to the rebuilt town in my earlier work, Power Rangers Wing Force. The base the Rebellion raids is the Nest from that same fic.


	16. Spectrum’s Last Stand, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Omega Zero fleet approaches Earth, Yuri and Barry work their way to Spectrum in order to stop him once and for all, while the other Rangers embark on the path to the Fire Knight.

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Spectrum stood on the balcony overlooking his army of Detainers and Commanagas. “The time is nearing.”, he announced. “I have assembled you to be the grand army that will fight and die for control of the universe. Those of you that survive will be decorated by me personally once I control the universe. As for the rest, your contribution will be recorded on a memorial with all of your names. Or at least the ones I can find out. Now take those weapons I have provided you with from our raids and defend this place from any rebels that dare to fight my control.” The crowd cheered as Spectrum walked off, talking with Cha-ChaMari. “Thanks to my mind venom, they’re eating out of my hands. They’ll destroy themselves for me.”

“Yes, the perfect army, if I do say so myself.”, Cha-ChaMari nodded. “But what will happen once you control the universe? There’s a reason that Gingaku uses the Area and Planet Controllers and there won’t be any of those left once you’ve wiped out Gingaku’s organisation.”

“I’ve prepared for that.”, Spectrum informed her as he pulled a gun-like weapon out of his pocket. “Myron recovered this from Grid Battleforce’s vaults. A Reanimizer that had been damaged, due to some idiot putting diamonds in the scope. I’ve had it repaired and come up with a use for it.” He pulled out various items, including a severed horn, a wristwatch-like device, a crystalline eyeball and a scale. “I’m going to use it to bring back 4 of the most troublesome opponents faced by former Power Rangers.” He threw the objects into the air, creating a two-horned alien with white hair and a red face, dressed in traditional Japanese peasant’s clothes, a young man with blonde hair in a black outfit with excessive shoulders and crimson highlights, a man in dragon-like armour and an insect-like creature with twin scythes, a permanently scowling face and a burn mark on his chest.

“What’s going on out here?”, Myron asked as he walked out of his room. “Who are these guys?”

“Ah Myron, you’re right on time.”, Spectrum responded. “I’d like you to meet our new allies, Galaxy Warriors General Ripcon, Cybervillain Avatar Blaze, Phantom Beast General Scorch and Warstar General Creepox. They’re going to be helping us in controlling the universe, as a thanks for reviving them.” He wrapped his stinger around his leg. “If they have any sense of gratitude, that is.”

“We’ll do as you say.”, Scorch nodded. “So long as you keep your word in giving us part of the universe.”

“And get a chance to crush some Rangers while we’re at it.”, Blaze added, slamming his fists together.

“You’ll get a chance to fight Power Rangers.”, Spectrum informed him. “But don’t destroy them. I have something special in mind for that situation. Myron, is the Bullroid fully repaired?”

“He’s back in one piece.”, Myron answered. “And as you requested, his AI has been wiped. The Bullroid is now working according to Dr. Cerebron’s original designs.”

“That’s good.”, Spectrum walked off, gesturing for the others. “Come gentlemen, we have a trap to set.”

Everyone walked off after Spectrum, except Cha-ChaMari, who merely laughed to herself. “Enjoy your power while it lasts, traitor. For soon, your little kingdom won’t exist.”

* * *

** Planet Carina, Keel System. **

Yuri and the 6 Rangers with him were discussing their next course of action. “We can’t just go off on a quest, we have to get to Earth and stop that fleet.”, Slash insisted.

“That’s correct.”, Winda replied. “But given the legends told to us about the Fire Knight, he could help us to destroy the Dark Gears.”

“There isn’t time.”, Mila urged. “If we set off for this guy now, we’d never make it back to Earth.”

“The voice said we’d need to bring the three lights together to find the Fire Knight.”, Scales reminded everyone. “And I can’t think what that means.”

“Maybe he was referring to the three Cosmo Spheres that were said to lead to him.”, Cobras suggested.

“It’s worth a shot.”, Jiro said, pulling out the Sail-86 Sphere, while Scales and Cobras took out the Keel-87 and Poop Deck-88 Spheres out, inserting them into their Morphers and pulling them back, before pressing a button on the handle. The three Spheres generated their contents, which conglomerated into a fourth Cosmo Sphere, with a bronze frame and a boat inside. It was numbered “89”.

Winda picked the new Sphere up and came to a decision. “I suggest we split into two groups. One will return to Earth to provide a defence, while the other will use this Sphere to find the Fire Knight. That will provide time for both objectives to be carried out.”

Yuri nodded. “Okay, we’ll go with that. I’ll lead the Earth team, while you lead the search team. Mila, Slash, with me.” The three ran off, summoning their Zords and taking off.

“I suppose that leaves us to carry out the search.”, Cobras nodded. “Now then, shall we use the new Cosmo Sphere?”

“On it.”, Winda said as she inserted it into her Morpher. “Voyager-89 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” She pulled the Sphere back, causing the boat within the Sphere to manifest an energy copy of itself, floating out of the casing and enlarging until it was several times the size of the Rangers. The ship then beamed up the 4 Rangers, transporting them into a room that appeared to be made out of wood. “It seems that the boat will be escorting us there by itself.”

The 4 were then knocked back by the force of the Voyager ship setting sail, as it left the planet’s orbit on its journey. “We’d better strap ourselves in.”, Jiro howled. “We’re in for a bumpy ride.”

* * *

** Dark Gear Fleet, Earth Orbit. **

In the ship furthest away from Earth, the fleet’s Commander, Tricerodo, was in conference with Gingaku. She was a being with a torso shaped like a triceratops head, metallic boots, a pink shirt and two fins on her head, which had three holes where her eyes and nose would be. She also had the same golden shoulder pad on her right shoulder as Coiloga. When she spoke, she did so with a very distinct speech pattern. “Ahh, Gingaku. I assume you’re looking into my progress in the cleansing of Earth.”

“ _Yes. Given that Coiloga failed in his mission to obtain the final of the three Cosmo Spheres, I expect you, one of his equals, to do better at her task.”_

“Don’t worry yourself, my dear Gingaku. Coiloga may have been great once upon a time, but he’s grown softer since Katseayor left our little group. Whereas I have only become a more cunning warrior. Already, I have sent the first of my fleet down to the planet’s surface. He’s due to arrive there and begin his work soon.”

“ _He’d better, or I’ll make sure you suffer for his failure if he doesn’t._ ”, Gingaku said angrily. With that said he signed off.

Tricerodo laughed maniacally. “Those pesky Rangers won’t know what hits them when I’m through. And neither will Spectrum.”

* * *

** Rebellion Camp, Earth. **

Yuri and his team burst into the camp’s main tent. “Sorry we’re late, outer-space traffic on the way here was a nightmare.”

“Yeah, the route was blocked by nothing but Dark Gears.”, Slash clarified. “They’re on the way here to carry out an Omega Zero.”

“What’s an ‘Omega Zero’?”, Pamela asked.

“In layman’s terms, it’s an end of the world procedure.”, Mila answered her. “The first Gearoids will be landing soon.”

“Well, then what are we doing sitting around here?”, Drago asked as he walked in. “Mila, Slash, I'll need your help in the Dragon Star to destroy them as they come. Yuri, I need you on the ground with Barry, leading the charge.”

“Hi.”, Barry said, waving meekly.

“Wait, you want us to charge against Spectrum with only two of us?”, Yuri asked. “Even if we knew where the Control Gear was, it’d be suicide.”

“You won’t be alone this time.”, Commander Goodman pointed out. “I’ve had our best fighters outfitted with weapons on par with you Rangers. They’ll be going in under your command.”

“And we’ve located the Control Gear, thanks to an address Spectrum gave to his forces earlier.”, Pamela added. “He’s holed himself up in London, England. An old friend of the Commander’s, currently located in that area, is going to help us get close.”

“Well, that sounds simple.”, Yuri nodded nervously. “How long will it take to mobilise everyone?”

“At most, an hour.”, was the answer from the Commander. “Well, what are we standing around for? Let’s go.”

* * *

**London, England.**

Blaze was keeping a lookout when he saw the giant shape of the Lion Zord descending on the city. He then picked up his radio and called Spectrum. “One of them’s arrived, exactly as you said he would.”

“ _Only one?”,_ Spectrum asked _. “Never mind, I’ll still take him out. Take the troops and lead them in taking him out.”_

* * *

The Lion landed on the ground, with the Rebellion’s small army emerging from the rear of the ship. Yuri and Barry then leapt down from the cockpit, as the Zord dispersed itself. “Good thing this baby has a lot of storage space going unused.”, Yuri commented.

“They certainly won’t have expected us to smuggle ourselves inside it.”, Barry added.

“How we got here isn’t important right now.”, Pamela urged. “We need to find this contact of the Commander’s and see how they can help.”

“Too bad.” Everyone turned to see the figures of Blaze, Ripcon, Scorch and Creepox standing before them, surrounded by their respective grunts: Tronics, Kudabots, Rinshi and Loogies. “Because we’re here to ensure that the Red Ranger won’t stop Spectrum’s plans.”

Yuri growled in annoyance. “We don’t have time for this. Barry, should we teach these guys a lesson?”

Barry pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. “You know it.”

Yuri pulled his out and the two slid them into position. “It’s Morphing Time!” The two then summoned their Morphers and inserted their Spheres into them. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” The two pushed their Spheres forward and pulled their triggers, morphing into the Red and Sky Rangers.

Blaze was annoyed at this. “Two Rangers? I guess I’ll have to fight harder.” He pulled out his key and inserted it into his Morpher, transforming into the Dark Ranger. “Everyone, attack!”

The two Rangers engaged the various footsoldiers, dispatching them. “They may look different, but a henchman is a henchman, no matter what.”, Yuri said as he placed his Cosmo Sphere onto his Cosmo Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He spun around and generated a wave of energy, that wiped out his opponents.

“Yeah, you’re right.”, Barry replied as he punched two enemies back. “And I guess it’s my turn to try a Cosmo Weapon.” He summoned the hilt and blade, combining them and flipping out the handle. “Cosmonata!” He called out as he swung it around. He then inserted his Bear-22 Cosmo Sphere. “Cosmic Energy Slice!” He swung his weapon around, taking out another portion of the army.

Blaze saw this and was furious. “If we can’t defeat them by appealing to force, we’ll appeal to their compassion.” He pointed towards the rest of the Rebellion. “Take them hostage.”

But as the soldiers approached to do so, Pamela didn’t look scared. If anything, she was determined. “All troops, present arms.” Everyone pulled out the weapons they had taken from the old base, pointing at the enemy. “Shoot. Shoot now.”

_Fire Attack!_

The red blasters fired beams that hit the troops, knocking them down. When one of them tried moving out the way, he was still hit, as the beam changed its trajectory to hit him. “I can’t believe these still work.”, Pamela said incredulously. “Keep it up.”

Blaze was angry to see his would-be hostages fighting back. “Where did they get those weapons?”, he growled.

“That’s for us to know, and for you to never find out.”, one of the soldiers declared as he inserted a sword into the white gun. “Yeehaw!”, he called out as he blew more enemies away.

In the middle of the fight, a middle-aged woman appeared in the middle of the street, wearing a shroud. “Rebellion, come with me. Now.”, she urged.

“It can’t hurt.”, Yuri said as he went off after the woman. The rest of the attack group soon followed.

Watching them leave, Blaze was left seething with rage. “Get me Spectrum.”

* * *

“They got away?”, Spectrum said with anger. He then sighed. “It’s true what they say. Never send an avatar to do a real warrior’s work.” He then turned to Myron, who was being accompanied by Tarrant. “Are you ready?”

“I serve you for one purpose.”, was Myron’s answer.

* * *

** Elsewhere on Earth. **

Drago, Mila and Slash brought their three Zords together, with Yellow as the right arm and Green as the left arm. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!” As multiple Dark Gears embedded themselves in the Earth, the Dragon Star approached them, ready to stop them.

But they were confronted by a pair of giant Commanagas. “Man, they’re really trying to ensure there’s no hitches.”, Mila complained. “But let’s show them this won’t work.”

But in the resulting fight, the Megazord was pushed back by the two opponents, barely managing to block their staffs. “We’ll have to push back twice as hard.”, Drago noted.

“That might be difficult, since there’s only one of us.”, Slash told him.

“We’ll just have to show that one head is better than two.”, Mila radioed. “Chameleon Tonge Attack!” The chameleon arm’s tongue emerged, wrapping around buildings to create a tripwire. As the two Commanagas ran forward, one was tripped up. The other however, carried on. “Now, let’s fight.”, Mila said as the two locked their weapons. The Dragon Star slashed its opponent, before kicking him down next to his comrade.

“Cosmic Dragon Blast!”, Drago declared as he opened and closed the head of his staff. The three Rangers channeled their energy into the Swordfish arm, firing a beam at the Commanaga, destroying him.

The other one got up, now accompanied by a Gearoid. “They’re beginning to activate.”, Slash said worriedly.

“Things just got worse.”, Mila bemoaned.

“We won’t let this deter us.”, Drago declared.

* * *

** Out in Space. **

Tricerodo observed the fight. “Now, now Rangers. You don’t think I’ll let you win that easily, surely?” She then started giggling. “But it is fun to watch you squirm.”

* * *

** London. **

The woman led the Rebellion group through the sewers. “Lulu told me you were coming by, so I had to try and calculate where you’d land.”, she said.

“‘Lulu’? Is that the Commander’s name?”, Barry asked.

“Yes. I forgot that you’re not particularly close with anyone on this planet, are you kid?”, the woman responded. “She also told me about each of these new Rangers that have been helping her group. If only I’d had someone like you in my group.”

“Why?”, Pamela asked. “What happened to your group?”

“A couple of weeks ago, we were caught stealing medical supplies from a pharmacy. Gingaku followed us down here and captured most of us. Including my husband, the group’s leader.” The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t like to talk about it.”

“It’s ok.”, Yuri assured her. “We all know what it’s like to lose someone to Gingaku. I lost my friend, Barry here lost his parents…”

“She gets the picture.”, Pamela said in a matter-of-fact way. “By the way, what’s your connection with Commander Goodman? How did you two meet?”

Before the woman could respond, Myron’s voice echoed through the tunnels. “Yuri, Barry, I know you’re down there, along with your rebel friends. If you two surrender, we’ll let them go. If you don’t, we’ll send our army down there after you.”

Yuri and Barry looked conflicted, before Pamela put her hand on the former’s shoulder. “Do what you have to. We’ll make do down here.”

“Thanks, Pam.”, Yuri nodded. “Barry, come on. We have a date with Myron. And I doubt he’ll tolerate us being late.” Barry almost spoke up to object, but submitted and made his way out of the tunnels with Yuri.

* * *

Above the ground, the two Rangers were met by Spectrum, Cha-ChaMari, Myron, Blaze, Ripcon and Creepox. “Ah, I see that you were smart enough to come when I requested.”, Spectrum said with glee. “Nice to see you have some sense.”

“We really don’t have time for your evil schemes.”, Yuri said. “This planet’s about to be eliminated by an army of Gearoids.”

“What?”, Myron said with shock. “An Omega-Zero?”

Spectrum was angered. “How could this have been declared without my knowledge?”

Cha-ChaMari laughed. “Did you really think you’d be sent a treacherous drone by random chance? I’ve been keeping you busy with your puny little plans while Lord Gingaku moved his fleet into position to destroy this planet, with you and the Rangers on it.” She pressed a button, causing some of the purple Detainers to revert to green/blue/gray Detainers. “I also took the chance to put nanoshells containing a cure for your venom in some of your troops.”

Spectrum hissed with anger. “You treacherous hussey. You do realise that if we die, you die as well?”

“It doesn’t matter.”, Cha-ChaMari nodded. “I’m not important. As long as I helped to take you down with me, I’ll be able to be destroyed a happy woman.”

“So what do you say?”, Yuri asked again. “Will you help us stop the planet being burned to a crisp?”

Spectrum growled. “You’re just as much as a thorn in my side as Gingaku. If I’m going out, then at least I’ll take you out with this traitor.” The two groups of Detainers engaged in battle with each other, with Cha-ChaMari caught in the middle. Spectrum then pulled out a remote and twisted a dial. “Come forth, my new executioner.”

Tarrant stepped forward, but much to the shock of Yuri and Barry, the light in his eyes was gone. “You… rebuilt Tarrant… for this?”, Barry looked at Myron tearfully.

“I rebuilt him to serve my purpose.”, Myron said, pulling out a Cosmo Axe and presenting it to the robot. “You’ll also need this.”, he said giving the robot the Bull-05 Cosmo Sphere. “Now then, attack your enemy.”

Tarrant clicked the Cosmo Sphere into formation, placed it onto his Axe… and delivered a slash to the villains. “What? I thought he was under our control now?”, Blaze said annoyed.

“He should be.”, Spectrum said. “I checked his CPU myself. It was wiped.”

“His CPU yes.”, Myron said. “But there was a backup of his personality stored within his Cosmo Sphere. Tarrant’s been in full control since I handed it to him.”

Yuri was shocked by this, but then had a realisation. “So the reason you joined Spectrum…”

“…was to make sure I had the resources to repair him.”, Myron finished for him. “And to save my brother from the other presence within him.”

Spectrum growled. “Is no-one under my command loyal to me?” He turned to the three villains he had revived. “You, get them!” He stormed off, running towards the tower.

“With pleasure.”, Blaze said, pulling his key out and inserting it into his Morpher, once more turning into the Dark Ranger.

“It’s good to be back in the world of the activated.”, Tarrant said, flexing his arms, before holding up his Cosmo Sphere. “Shall we, buddy?”, he said to Myron.

“You know it.”, Myron nodded as he pulled out his own Sphere and slid it into position. “Let’s send these guys back to the grave.”

Yuri and Barry stood up and joined them. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” The four morphed into their Ranger forms. They then pulled out their weapons and charged at the villains, with Tarrant going for the Detainers.

Yuri found himself against Blaze. “A Ranger is no match for a Dark Ranger.”, the latter declared as he slashed at Yuri.

However, Yuri dodged the hit and delivered another slash. “You don’t deserve to be called a Ranger.”, he declared, pulling out his Dual Sphere and inserting the ‘sun’ side. “Hyper Plus Up!” He transformed into the Solar Red Ranger and delivered a flurry of fiery punches and kicks to his opponent, shattering his Morpher and reverting him to his human form. “Hyper Plus Up Rotation!” Yuri then turned into the Lunar Red Ranger, creating a darkness that allowed Blaze no respite to fight back. Then Yuri pressed the top of his Dual Sphere. “Eclipse Attack!”, he said quietly, firing a beam at Blaze, destroying him once more. “Virus Eliminated.”

Barry found himself fighting Ripcon, barely dodging the alien’s Double Sword Doom Strike. “I need to either go big or go home.”, he said, inserting the Bear-22 Sphere into his Morpher. “Plus Up!” He increased to giant size, kicking his opponent backwards. He then brandished his Cosmonata, plunging it into his opponent’s chest, causing him to explode. “Show’s over. I win.”

Myron then found himself facing Creepox. “Invertebrate versus invertebrate. This should be interesting.” He exchanged a few scratches with his enemy, before pulling out his Unicorn-27 Cosmo Sphere. “Plus Up!”, he inserted it into his arm, summoning his horn arm. “Let’s see how you like me when I bring double the sting.” He plunged his arm into Creepox’s weak spot on his chest, before pulling out and slashing him once more. “Time to end this.” He pushed the Cosmo Sphere in his Morpher back twice, before pressing the button to fire. Creepox was engulfed by the blast and destroyed. “Now that’s a win.”, he said. He then turned towards the other Rangers. “Tarrant, you stay here and deal with these Detainers.”

“Works for me.”, Tarrant said as he continued battering his opponents.

“You two, you’re with me.”, Myron indicated for Yuri and Barry to run with him. “We’re going after Spectrum. And this time, I’m going to save him.”

* * *

** Unknown Planet, the Edge of the Known Universe. **

The wooden ship floated above a cavern on a storm-ridden planet, beaming its passengers inside. Jiro, Winda, Cobras and Scales looked around, noting the statue sitting on a throne and a pile of Cosmo Spheres on a pedestal. “We appear to have arrived at our destination.”, Cobras noted.

“Question is, where’s the Fire Knight?”, Jiro asked. “There’s nothing here but that statue.”

“Not quite.”, Scales said as he picked up one of the Cosmo Spheres, which was numbered “37”. “There are these Cosmo Spheres, just like ours.”

As if on cue, everyone’s personal Cosmo Spheres flew out of their pockets, glowing with a fierce light. A symbol resembling a bird appeared on the chest of the statue, which began to crack. “Fascinating.”, Winda noted. “It seems that the Fire Knight placed himself into hibernation, to be awakened when the Cosmo Spheres of the chosen Rangers showed up.”

The statue fully shattered. Where it was, there was a human man, holding a Cosmo Sphere numbered “12”. “Who are you people?”, he asked the ones in his cave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly original, but uses some footage from episode 20 of Kyuranger (specifically, that of RyuteiOh vs the Moraimers). 
> 
> Since I had to throw a good deal of footage out, and inspired by the latest episodes airing on Pop, I brought back a few old villains. But there’s no magic meteor to use to call for help here. 
> 
> To clarify, while the planet was originally known as “KO-17”, the Rangers have learned it’s real name: Carina.


	17. Spectrum’s Last Stand, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The situation on Earth reaches a fever pitch, while the Rangers in space bring back a little extra power.

** London, England, Earth. **

Yuri and Myron pulled up to the outside of the Control Gear on their bikes, with Barry riding on the back of Yuri’s. As they got off, they saw a Cosmo Sphere on the floor, labelled “29” and depicting a goat as it’s symbol. “What does this do?”, Yuri asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it before.”, Myron answered him. “Let’s find out.”

Yuri placed the Sphere in his Morpher and pulled it backwards. “Activate!” He pressed the button, creating an image of Spectrum. But he seemed to have a different temperament to usual.

“ _If you’re watching this Myron, then it means that the other presence inside me has begun to take full control.”,_ the recording said. _“I found this Cosmo Sphere inside Gingaku’s private collection, along with a few others. He was planning to distribute them to his most valuable soldiers in order to power them up, similar to an old enemy of his. But I took this one, hoping that it could be of some use to myself. He doesn’t think it’s important, but I’m using it to tell you what he’s managed to keep secret from everyone. His living self was the blackest figure in the history of our planet, Myron. He was…._ ” Then Spectrum began to convulse and the message ended.

“It’s a recording Sphere.”, Barry realised. “But that doesn’t tell us about this second personality.”

“Yes it does.”, Myron assured him. “Thanks to this Sphere, I’ve figured out who’s controlling my brother. Let’s go.”

* * *

** Unknown Planetoid, the Depths of Space. **

Winda and her team were talking with the reawakened Fire Knight. “Please, sir. We need your help in saving the Earth and freeing the rest of the universe from darkness. You have to help us.”

The man nodded, raising his hand up. The flying boat appeared above them, teleporting the 5 inside it and setting off into space once more.

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Spectrum was facing off into the distance as he stood on the roof of the complex. Then he heard footsteps approaching from behind. “I should’ve known you’d follow me here, Orange Ranger.”, he hissed disdainfully.

“That’s right.”, Myron responded as he approached his brother’s body, accompanied by his allies. “This ends today, Dark Gears or no Dark Gears.”

Spectrum tutted. “So be it.” He began fighting the three Rangers, all four combatants using their weapons. However, Spectrum was quickly overwhelmed and knocked down.

“I’m going to save you from your own demons, brother.”, Myron said, pointing his weapon at Spectrum, before placing his Cosmo Sphere on the hilt. “Cosmic Energy Cutting!”

Barry joined him with his own Cosmonata. “Cosmic Energy Slice!”

Yuri was the last to take part, using his Cosmo Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!”

The three blasts hit Spectrum, seemingly defeating him. However, all it accomplished was breaking his mask, which fell to the floor in three pieces. “I said I’d defeat the demon controlling you Spectrum.”, Myron repeated. “Or should I say, Jiprak?”

The enemy laughed, once more overtaken with the same raspy voice. “ ** _So you figured out my identity, did you? Yes, I am Jiprak, the blackest figure in the history of planet Sori.”_**

Yuri was confused, as was Barry. “Wait, are we supposed to know who that is?”, he asked.

“No, and be glad you don’t know.”, Myron said to him in a matter-of-fact voice. “Jiprak was a tyrant, who overthrew the monarchy of his country centuries ago, replacing it with a dictatorship entirely under his control. Within a few years, he expanded his empire to the whole planet, easily destabilising any opposition and crushing any organised resistance. But then he vanished off the face of the planet one day, and his rule fell apart fast.”

“ ** _Yes, I once had control over Planet Sori, but I wanted more_**.”, Jiprak elaborated. “ ** _I went in search of the Cosmo Sphere on our planet, hoping that my power would make it accept me as its host. But when I found it, the Sphere rejected me, destroying my body and cursing me to wander the cave for hundred of years. Until you and your brother entered the cave, when I sensed that one of you was the rightful holder. I went for the elder of you two, instinctively believing him to be he rightful holder. But I was wrong, and ended up in a new body that wasn’t worth anything to me.”_**

“So that’s why he took over Earth so effectively.”, Barry realised. “He’d done it all before on Sori.”

“Yes, even with the mask, he could still exert control over my brother’s body.”, Myron noted. “But what I want to know is, why recruit me? The one person likely to bring down your empire and send you back to being dead.”

“ ** _Oh that’s simple_**.”, Jiprak said as he picked up his weapon. “ ** _Once I defeat you, I’ll take over your body and finally take the power of Scorpion-02 for myself.”_**

“We’ll see about that.”, Myron said as he brandished his Cosmonata. “You two, get out of here. He’s mine.”

“Works for us.”, Yuri said as he and Barry left the area. Myron then engaged in battle with Jiprak.

* * *

** Down on the Street. **

Tarrant was still facing off the Detainers singlehandedly, using only his axe. But he was beginning to weaken. “Maybe I should’ve run my new body through some dry runs.”, he said.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll get a dry run.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she shot him. “Once I’ve broken you down and turned you into a toaster.”

Before she could carry out that threat, both were hit with lightning. They turned to see General Scorch, accompanied by a squad of Rinshi. “If this planet is going to be destroyed, then I’ll have to take my business elsewhere.”, he said. “But first, I’ll take the two of you out before I find a ship.”

“You won’t get that chance.” Yuri and Barry leapt in, taking down a few grunts as they did so. “Tarrant, are you ok with some help?”, the former asked.

“It’s really appreciated.”, Tarrant said, getting himself up. “Let’s take these guys on. As a team.”

Scorch tutted at this. “New Rangers, same old lines. Attack!” The Rinshi leapt toward their opponents, beginning a fight.

* * *

In the underground, Pamela was talking with the troops. “We can’t just sit here while the world falls apart. We need to get out there and do something.”

“Yeah, the Rangers gave themselves up so we’d have a chance to defeat Spectrum.”, one of them said. “We need to take that chance to make our move.”

“And make it we shall.”, the older woman said, coming out with a large cannon, that she had to hold in both arms. “This is probably our last chance to take back our world and we have to make the most of it. So let’s go.” Everyone began to cheer at this. The woman then went over to Pamela. “In case we don’t make it out alive, I’ll answer that question you asked earlier. I’m your Commander’s sister in law. Her brother was my missing husband.”

Pamela nodded. “We can avenge him.”, she assure the older woman. “Now let’s go!”, she declared as everyone emerged from the tunnels.

* * *

Back on top of the Control Gear, Myron was still fighting Jiprak in his Double Sting Form. And losing. “ ** _You’re too afraid._** ”, his opponent mocked. “ ** _Afraid of potentially hurting your brother in getting rid of me. Not only that, I’ve seen everything you could possibly try with your fighting style. So none of your usual tricks will work on me.”_**

“‘My usual tricks’….”, Myron thought.

* * *

** Earth Orbit. **

Tricerodo observed all of this, plus the Dragon Star Megazord’s battle with the Commanaga/Gearoid duo. “The world is ending and none of the precious little Rangers can do a thing.” She started giggling. “Total victory can’t be long now.”

* * *

Down on Earth, the Dragon Star continued its battle. “Time to end this.”, Drago said as he opened and closed his Staff, causing energy from the three Zords to converge into the sword, creating an energy scythe that the Chameleon arm caught and thrust into the Commanaga and the Gearoid, destroying them.

“Good job.”, Mila said. “Too bad we’ve still got hundreds of these things to destroy.”

“We’ll split up, then we can cover more ground.”, Slash responded. The three Zords split up and targeted the Dark Gears, with the Swordfish and Dragon Zords each managing to destroy one.

* * *

Back in London, the three Rangers were still losing against the combined Detainer/Rinshi army. “Give it up, Rangers.”, Scorch bellowed. “You can’t win against us with just the three of you.”

“Then it’s a good thing it’s not just the three of them.” Several of the grunts were blasted back, with the Rebellion troops running forward with their weapons. “Keep at it.”, Pamela shouted. “Don’t let them regain the advantage.”

“Yes, they’ve held onto this planet for too long.”, the older woman shouted, brandishing her large cannon. “It’s time we take back our world.” She held the weapon in place, firing off multiple shots at the enemy, knocking Cha-ChaMari out with one of them.

“Thanks for the help, Pamela.”, Yuri called out. “Now we can focus our efforts on Scorch.”

“Big talk,” the Phantom Beast scoffed. “Let’s see you back it up.” He charged in, continuing the battle with the three Rangers.

* * *

On top of the Control Gear, Myron was lying on the floor. “You’re right, Jiprak.”, he wheezed. “My regular moves are predictable. So now, I’m going to change things up a bit.” He removed the blade from his Cosmonata, using it similarly to Mila’s Cosmo Blade, before catching the blade in a different formation as the Cosmo Scythe, which he used to deliver a series of slashes to Jiprak. He then readjusted the blade and flipped the handle inward, forming the Cosmo Dagger. After a few more hits, he tucked the blade away and fired it as a Cosmo Blaster. Then he summoned the lower blade, attaching it to the front of the handle, creating a Cosmo Rifle. After firing more shots, he folded the sides in to recreate Jiro’s Cosmo Slasher. He scratched his foe several times, before straightening out the lower blade and adjusting it to be on top of the handle, along with the smaller blade, to create a Cosmo Saber. “I’d normally save this for last.”, Myron said as he delivered several strikes to his opponent. “But there’s one tiny factor changing all that.”

Jiprak hissed. “ ** _Oh, and what’s that?”_**

“You killed my friend, Tarrant.”, Myron said in a matter-of-fact tone. “No, he wasn’t just a friend. I helped to build him, so he’s more like a son. And since you’ve now hurt two members of my family, then I think it’s only right I use one of their weapons to end this.” He removed the blade from the weapon, creating a Cosmo Axe. “Time to end this.” He ran towards Spectrum, delivering several slashes with the axe, which knocked Jispak down for the count.

“ ** _Go on then, do it._** ”, Jiprak insisted. “ ** _Kill me, and live with the knowledge that you couldn’t save your brother a second time.”_**

“Actually, I had another idea.”, Myron pulled a Cosmo Sphere out of his belt, before demorphing and pulling out a small gun. “You see, while you had me seeking out places where Rangers stored their weapons, I went looking for something else. A machine used to separate two separate beings that share a body. And behind your back, I modified it into this pistol. And this Cosmo Sphere, Purity-60, has the power to detect and reveal evil.” He inserted the Sphere into the pistol, causing it to start glowing. “But first, I should test this out.” He pointed towards the fight on the ground and fired.

* * *

In the streets, the Detainers, on both sides of the allegiance battle between Spectrum and Cha-ChaMari, were hit with a beam. The helmets on their heads split in two, with the rest of their uniforms disintegrating. Now, the two armies had been replaced with large numbers of confused humans. “What happened?”, one man asked. “Where am I?”

“I don’t know how it happened.”, one of the Rebellion members commented. “But it seems that the Detainers have been freed from Gingaku’s control.”

“That’s good news for us.”, Tarrant noted.

“Yeah.”, Barry added. “Now we can take out the dragon guy and his minions with no distractions.”

“And lots more destruction.”, Scorch declared, firing lightning from his hand at the three Rangers, who jumped out of the way of the explosion.

* * *

From the top of the tower, Myron turned back towards his opponent. “And now for you.”, he said to Jiprak, pointing his weapon at his brother’s body.

“ ** _No, I won’t go back to the darkness. You can’t make me._** ” Spectrum ran forward, trying to hit Myron with his Polearm. But he wasn’t fast enough. Myron fired the weapon at his target, causing black smoke to emerge from the body of Heath. As Jiprak’s essence departed, Myron’s brother reverted to his previous appearance, that of a young man, slightly older than Myron, who collapsed onto the floor. Jiprak’s voice continued, now coming from the smoke. “ ** _This will not be the end. If I can’t take your body, then I’ll simply go after another._** ” With that, the smoke floated away.

Then, the cloaked image of Gingaku appeared via hologram. “ _Only a little time remains until this planet is destroyed. Give up, Rangers, Spectrum. None of you can succeed._ ” Then the image faded. Myron, for the moment, ignored it, instead choosing to cradle his unconscious brother, feeling relieved in the knowledge he at least succeeded in that.

* * *

On the ground, the black smoke that was all that remained of Jiprak went after Yuri. “ ** _If I can’t have the body of Scorpion-02’s user, then I’ll go for the Lion-01 user. Then I’ll be truly powerful.”_** He floated inside the Red Ranger causing him to cry out in pain.

“Yuri, whats wrong?”, Tarrant asked. “Is that other you coming out again?”

“ ** _No_**!”, Jiprak’s voice came out of Yuri’s body. “ ** _This is something else. I now control the ultimate power in the…_** ” he was interrupted by his body seemingly fighting back. “ _ **No, what is this?**_ ”

“ ** _This body is not yours to command.”_** , Yuri’s other presence took over. “ ** _You shall be purged._** ” The black smoke emerged from Yuri’s body, vaporising as it did so. Yuri then unleashed a wave of energy that wiped out Scorch and his Rinshi, before reverting him to normal. “What happened?”, he asked upon seeing the damage.

Before he could receive an answer, he received a message on his Morpher. It was from Winda. “ _Yuri, we found our way to the planet at the end of that route. And we’ve brought back some help for the problem at hand.”_

“It doesn’t matter what help you have in your campaign.”, Cha-ChaMari mocked. She clicked her fingers, summoning more Detainers and two Commanagas. “This planet is doomed anyway, and you’re all going down with it.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Everyone turned to the source of the new voice. It was a man in what looked like an astronaut suit, with some features of the Rangers’ costumes and a Phoenix motif. He was carrying an intricate shield. “Where death occurs, life still prevails.” He pulled a sword out of the shield.

Yuri noticed that he had a Cosmo Sphere within his Sword. “Are you… the Fire Knight?”

“At your service, my friend.”, the Knight nodded. “And as your allies requested, I shall end this apocalypse.”

Cha-ChaMari was annoyed. “I don’t care who you are. Get him.”

The Detainers charged in to attack. However, the Knight cut through them, making short work of the grunts. The pair of Commanagas came out, firing missiles at their new enemy. While they hit their target, he emerged unscathed, sending the force of the blast back at them, destroying them.

* * *

** Low Orbit. **

“What’s this?”, Tricerodo noted furiously as she observed the events. “Fire on that man.”

* * *

The Command Ship came down, firing at the Fire Knight. However, he dodged the shot, jumping up and taking out the much smaller fighters that had been sent down with minimal effort. Then he turned towards the Command Ship, placing his sword within the shield. “Galaxy Saber, Charge!” He pulled it out again, causing the Sphere holder to begin spinning and generating fire. “Burning Calibur!” He delivered a slash that cut the ship in two, causing it to explode.

* * *

Inside the ship, Tricerodo was surrounded by explosions. “Get me out of here!”, she yelled as she was teleported away.

* * *

On the ground, Yuri received a communique from Mila. “ _Yuri, I don’t know how, but all of the Dark Gears have simultaneously burned out at once. They’ve stopped working.”_

“He did it.”, Yuri realised. “He stopped the Omega-Zero.”

Fire Knight landed on the ground. “This planet won’t be going anywhere. Not while I’m here.”

“Why you.”, Cha-ChaMari growled, brandishing her sword. “At least I’ll destroy you.”

“You can try.”, the Knight replied, pointing at her. “Let’s go.”

Cha-ChaMari ran forward, thrusting her sword at her opponent several times. But the Knight dodged all of the hits, before catching the sword. “You’re open.”, he said as he hit her with his shield. “You shouldn’t have taken me on.” He knocked the sword out of her hand, before cutting her in half with another slash, destroying her.

“This can’t be.”, Cha-ChaMari cried out as she exploded.

The Knight then turned towards the Rangers and their Rebellion allies. “No thanks are necessary. I think I should like to come back to your base and see what quality of people I’m working with.”

“That might be difficult.”, Yuri commented. He then called Myron. “What’s the status of the Control Gear you’re at?”, he asked.

“ _It’s still functioning._ ”, came the answer. “ _But what makes you want to know? And why are you whisperi-?_ ”

Yuri hung up. “It just so happens we’ve got a pretty good HQ right here in London.”, he said to the Knight. “By the way, I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves. I’m Yuri.”

The Knight placed his sword back in his shield and removed the Cosmo Sphere, reverting to a normal human. “You can call me ‘Proton’.”, he replied. “Especially since we’ll be working together.”

* * *

** Planet Cepheus. **

A figure with a long neck and asymmetrical shoulders stirred. “He’s back.”, the figure said in a distinct British accent. He cradled his right arm, at the end of which was a mace instead of a hand. “After all these years, I can take my revenge.” He stood up and walked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off episode 21 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Jiprak gets his name from the Belarusian word for scorpion. I chose it because it was the most radically different translation I could find. 
> 
> Proton gets his name from big name fan ProtoDubs, who is a pretty big fan of Ohtori Tsurugi, the character’s Sentai counterpart. 
> 
> I originally intended to destroy the Control Gear, but I decided to keep it intact so the good guys could finally have a base.


	18. Journeys of the Defenders.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the Rangers settle into their new base, they share their stories of how they acquired their powers with the Fire Knight. Meanwhile, a new threat to Earth rears its ugly head.

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku looked on as the Fire Knight’s destruction of his fleet and deactivation of the Dark Gears was replayed. He growled in frustration. “I tried really hard to make sure that Proton stayed in his hiding place forever. And not only does he show up, but he eliminates all but one of the active Dark Gears on Earth.”

Dark Soul observed his master with confusion. “I assume you have a history with this ‘Fire Knight’?”

“Yes.”, Gingaku responded. “He and I are old enemies, predating my rule of even this organisation. Though he defeated me and my best warrior then, I came out of our conflict with the skills I used to proceed to my current position. Though I am grateful for that, my scars of defeat run deep. He is the one being that threatens my rule over the inhabited universe.”

“What shall we do about this?”, Dr. Cerebron’s avatar asked.

“I have called in my elite warriors to handle this situation.”, Gingaku answered him. “They will deal with the Fire Knight.”

* * *

** Out in Space. **

An armoured figure sat on a throne addressed his subordinates, a large yeti-like alien with a pair of icy chains and a green-dragon like alien with a large mouth and a black uniform. “Abomiknight, Reptak, the time has come for us to strike.”, he said in a deep, echoing voice.

“You mean…?”, Abomiknight asked. He had more of a simpleton voice.

“Yes.”, Reptak nodded, answering his ally’s question. He had more of a hiss to his voice. “An Omega-Zero on a backwater planet has failed. It’s our chance to move in on the planet.”

“Exactly, Reptak.”, their leader nodded. “And with our new weapon, we will finish what the Dark Gear fleet failed. The two of you are to scout this planet and test the resolve of its defenders.”

“Oh, we’ll be sure to fulfill that task.”, Reptak said, rubbing his sword.

“Yeah!”, Abomiknight added, banging his staff on the ground. “By the way, what’s the name of this mudball we’re blowing up?”

“Earth!”

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

The three Ranger that had been fighting off the Dark Gears came into the control room of the one that was still standing. “Wow, now this is a real base.”, Slash said excitedly. “We won’t have to slum it in those tents anymore.”

“How were you able to capture this whole building intact?”, Mila asked Yuri.

“We didn’t technically capture it.”, Myron answered as he walked in. “The original Commander is still here, but he’s currently in the med-bay, not really capable of leading anything.”

“And it will take us some time for the entire Rebellion to relocate here.”, Drago noted. “So until then, as the most senior person here, I’m taking charge of the Control Gear.”

“We could really do to come up with a better name.”, Scales suggested. “‘The Control Gear’ doesn’t exactly instil people with a sense of safety.”

“We’ll get to that in time, my friend.”, Proton, the newest member of their party, contributed to the conversation. “For now, I think we should all share our stories of how we came here today, standing together, pledged to liberate the universe.”

“Is that really necessary?”, asked Jiro.

“I don’t know, he has a point.”, Yuri answered. “In fact, I’ll start.”

* * *

_** Deep Space, 5 Years Ago. ** _

_I was part of a mission to travel into space, searching for new galaxies to explore, along with my friend Gregory. Our mission took off on the day that Gingaku attacked the entire universe. While we were in space, we ran into a fleet of warships, the Commander of whom spoke to us over our radio._

_“Attention, unidentified vessel. Surrender now and receive a lighter life, or resist and be dragged out kicking and screaming.” Neither of us were quite sure how to react this, but he didn’t give enough time for us to come up with a response. “Very well then, we’ll do this the hard way.” He fired on us, knocking us out of our seats. I was still able to stand up, but Greg wasn’t so lucky, finding himself crushed partially beneath some of the debris._

_“Yuri, help me! Yuri!” But my survival instincts caused me to put my own safety above his. I ran to the back of the ship, putting on an air helmet and ejected myself from the airlock. I lost conscience soon after that._

* * *

_When I awoke, I was on a jungle planet, being poked at by a farmer. I had no idea who I was, so the farmer simply pointed out the information in my uniform. I learned my name was Yuri and that I came from a planet called Earth. I also found a strange globe, that I later found out was the Lion-01 Cosmo Sphere. I didn’t know the way back to Earth, so I was pointed in the general direction and found a space lane going that way. I kept doing this for 5 years, going from spaceport to spaceport, until I decided to step in and help an innocent alien evade arrest. I ended up going down with him, but at least I could hope they’d send me home. But as it turned out, I had no such luck._

_So, what’ve you got lined up for me?”, Yuri asked. “A slap on the wrist and then you send me back home?”_

“ _That would normally be the case with unlicensed offworlders.”, Metaro replied. “But Lord Gingaku decided that you should be used to make an example to the people.”_

_“That’s never good news.”, Yuri commented._

_“Indeed.”, R-283 replied. “You have been sentenced to execution. Detainers, take him to the beast.”_

_Yuri was shocked to hear this. “Wait, there’s a beast?”, he asked as he was dragged away._

_But luckily for me, the beast in question was Jiro here, who was only eating the prisoners due to a collar on his chest. I managed to remove it, and a few minutes later, I met up with some of the other Rangers and unlocked the power of my Cosmo Sphere. And soon after that, I discovered that I had access to a powerful Zord that could combine with the others to form the mighty Cosmo Megazord._

* * *

“I see.”, Proton said as he heard the story. “Did you ever find out what happened to your missing memories? Or your friend?”

Yuri shook his head. “I found out that I had something inside me, allowing me to use the Cosmo Sphere, at the cost of any clear recollection prior to waking up on the planet. I reconstructed the story of what happened before through dreams and accounts from my friend Pamela. As for Gregory, I came close, but it was just a trick.”

“Alright, I think you’ve taken up enough of Proton’s time with your story.”, Myron interjected. “I’ll tell you my whole experience, even some parts I haven’t really gone into detail about.”

* * *

** _Planet Sori, 5 years ago._ **

_My brother Heath and I were researchers, studying galactic legends related to our star system. We had heard of a fabulous treasure located on our planet, capable of granting one who is worthy great power. Many had tried to search for the treasure, and many had not returned. During our research, we encountered the man we would come to know as Commander Drago. We heard of what he knew of the Cosmo Spheres and noticed a correlation with our legends about the treasure. We concluded they were one and the same and came to an agreement: We would use his machinery to find the treasure and then communicate to him once we had found it. So we used the machine, eventually being pointed in the direction of a cave. Like any good explorer, we went inside, searching for the treasure._

_“So ‘it’s a simple job’ right?”, Myron said sarcastically. “You made me think we’d just go in, grab this Cosmo Sphere, get out and then give it to Drago when he comes back.”_

_“How was I to know we’d come across booby-traps in this temple?”, Heath replied sheepishly. “Who could’ve possibly known that?”_

_“Everyone who read the legend of this place, and those who didn’t.”, Myron responded. “The legend clearly says ‘He who evades the obstacles placed in his path shall be the one rewarded with the treasure within’.”_

_“Eh, you’re always sweating the details.”, Heath said, pointing to the plinth nearby. “Look, there’s the Cosmo Sphere, right in front of us. There’s no possible booby traps left to stop us now.” He walked forward, outstretching his arm._

_But as Heath got nearer the plinth, he suddenly collapsed, crying out in pain. Myron was shocked to see this. “Heath, what’s happening? I thought there weren’t any more traps.”_

_“I don’t know.”, Heath struggled to say. “I feel like, I’m losing control of my own body. Myron, help me!” His skin began to turn white, with his hands mottling. “Myron!”_

_But Myron was too scared of seeing his brother being afflicted with this apparent curse. His instincts were telling him to get out of there, for fear of suffering the same fate. But something else compelled him to grab the Cosmo Sphere first, before setting off running out of the path that opened when he took the Sphere. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”, he said as he took off. “With help.”_

_But as I got out, I saw Gingaku attacking my planet, making slaves of its people. It was in that moment that I unlocked the power of the Cosmo Sphere I found and became the Orange Ranger for the first time. I tried contacting Drago for help, but the voice I got wasn’t the voice I was expecting._

_“Star traveller, is that you?”, the voice asked._

_“Who is this?”, I asked back. “I’m looking for Drago, I have something I want to ask him.”_

_“Drago? You mean the humanoid lizard-man? Purple, with grey hair?” The line went silent for a second, then my caller resumed her message. “Do you know where he is? My planet’s under attack by strange beings in grey masks and I only have the Cosmo Sphere he gave me to fight back with.”_

“ _You have a Cosmo Sphere too?”, I asked. “Never mind, I can lock in on your signal and find my way to help you. Try and hold out until I get there.” With that said, I signed off and began experimenting with my new item, creating my Zord for the first time._

* * *

_I left the planet, but I soon found myself captured by Gingaku. They evaluated me and put me to work as an assistant to a Professor Cerebron. He had me working on a project to create a robotic super soldier for Gingaku, known as the Bullroid. Within weeks, we had finished the original prototype and were presenting it to Gingaku._

_The completed Bullroid walked into a pane of glass, smashing it upon contact. “As you can see my Lord, my automaton can apply levels of force capable of breaking down anything.”_

_“Excellent, Professor.”, Gingaku nodded. “If I had an army of these, my power would be absolute.”_

_“Papa.” Everyone turned to the Bullroid, the source of the voice. “Did I do good, Papa?”_

_“What is this?”, Gingaku growled, now angry. “Why did that machine speak?”_

_“It’s just a minor technical hitch.”, Cerebron insisted. “I’ll correct it at once.” He switched of the screen and turned to me, angry. “This experiment is a failure. I’m stuck at stage one because of this thing’s outburst. Destroy it and I’ll start on the MK 2.” With that said, he stormed out of the room._

_I went over to the robot, deciding to just get the job over with. But when I went over to the robot, I heard it speak again. “Did I do something bad? Is Papa mad at me?” In that moment, I realised that this wasn’t merely a technical glitch, the Bullroid had developed its own artificial intelligence, which was growing. I told him to leave the building to carry out a mundane task, and then I set about destroying the lab. I realised that Cerebron couldn’t be allowed to create more robots, especially since they would lack the same learning ability as their predecessors. I got out of the lab before it was destroyed, escaping to an uninhabited planet outside of known space. I had detected large amounts of Cosmic Energy on the planet and I intended to collect them for use by the Cosmic Defenders when they assembled. I kept in touch with Mila through our communicators, but otherwise I kept to myself. That is, until the day the Rangers showed up on my planet, in search of new members._

_“Well, it seems that the rumours of the new Power Rangers’ skills were not exaggerated.”, Myron said. “Nice to finally see you in person, M2.”, he said that to Mila in particular._

_Mila was confused for a moment, but then realised. “You’re M1?”_

_“Actually, my name’s Myron. But yes, I am your friend.”, he responded. “In fact, I’m also the reason you’re here.”_

_But before Myron could continue, Tarrant got a clear look at him. “You!”, he said angrily. “I’m going to get you back for what you did.”_

_“Tarrant, you’re making no sense.”, Slash stated. “And that’s saying something, since your statements aren’t that smart to begin with.”_

_But Tarrant ignored him, morphing into the Black Ranger and charging at Myron, who narrowly dodged. “Okay then, someone’s in a mood.”, Myron commented. He then pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and slid it into position. “Looks like I’m going to have to calm you down.” His Morpher materialised on his wrist and he placed his Sphere into it. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” With a short, he was transformed into an Orange Ranger, with a scorpion motif._

_Mila was shocked. “No way, you’re our new member?”_

* * *

“And I can assume you calmed the robot down and joined up with the other Rangers.”, Proton interjected. “After all, I doubt that you and Tarrant would be standing in the same room otherwise.” Everyone stared at him. “What? His story was dragging on for way too long.”

“Yeah, no offence intended Myron, but that was slightly long-winded.”, Mila added. “Now then, I think I should be next.”

But before Mila could begin, an alarm sounded. “I programmed the system to alert us to any Gingaku activity.”, Scales noted as he went over to the computer. “It’s coming from two points. There’s one in the city of Los Angeles and a Gearoid attacking a forest in Japan.”

“I thought that Proton disposed of the Gearoids with his Burning Calibur attack.”, Winda said with some confusion.

“He must have missed one.”, Drago suggested. “I’ll take Scales and Cobras to deal with it using their Zords. From what I’ve heard they’re a surprisingly effective combo.”

* * *

**_ Planet Matoine, 2 Months Ago. _ **

_The Rangers were fighting the Gingaku general Baja with their Megazord. As he gained the advantage, Scales and Cobras had their Zords take over as the right and left arms of the Megazord respectively. “Cosmo Megazord, Slash’N’Bash Formation! Complete!”_

_“You think a different pair of arms will save you?”, Baja declared as he fired his laser again._

_“Hammer Reflection!”, Scales called out. He moved his arm up and blocked the blasts. The Megazord then moved forward and used its claw to clamp down on Baja’s arm, before releasing and knocking the laser out of his digits._

_“Snake Biter!”, Cobras declared. His arm extended and pushed the alien into the air._

_“Begin Final Attack! Cosmo Megazord Hammer!” The Balance Zord extended once more, hitting Baja and blowing him to pieces._

* * *

“If it gets the job done, I’ll gladly join you, Commander.”, Cobras said humbly.

“It’d be nice to work with my old partner again.”, Scales said excitedly. “Alright then, let’s get going.” The three ran out of the room, heading for the Gearoid’s attack site.

Mila was annoyed by this. “I really wanted to share my story with you guys. Gingaku has a really terrible sense of timing.”

“You can come along with me and tell it.”, Proton assured her. “It’ll make our search for the invasion party more lively.” He escorted her out the door. “Shall we?”

“Hey, I’m not sitting another one out.”, Jiro insisted, running out after them.

“Don’t think you’re leaving me out of this, Mr. Fire Knight.”, Slash added, deciding to join the others.

“Everyone wait, we should be more logical about choosing our away team.”, Winda insisted, as she tried to catch up with the other 4.

Now only Yuri, Myron, Barry and Tarrant were left in the room. “Do you think we should go out and join them?”, Yuri asked.

“Nah, we could do with the rest.”, Barry answered him. “I mean, we took out 4 armies and a tyrannical dictator from thousands of years ago.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they can handle this.”, Myron added. “For now, we just sit back and try to figure out how this system works, since most of it makes no sense.”

* * *

** Los Angeles, California. **

The 5 Rangers that made up Proton’s impromptu away team landed in Los Angeles. Slash was annoyed with their default leader. “Is there a reason you had to tag along in my Zord? These things don’t come with passenger seats.”

“I’m sorry, but my own method of transport isn’t ready for use yet.”, Proton answered him. “It still needs to charge for a while before it can make an appearance.”

“Speaking of appearances, our invaders don’t seem to have made one.”, Winda realised. “We can’t possibly calculate where they may come from.”

“They’re probably hiding out so they can scope out our forces and plan a counterattack.”, Mila suggested. “It’s a classic stealth tactic. I learned it in the first year of my training.”

“Ah yes, the reason I chose to bring you along.”, Proton realised. “Whats your story? How did you become a Ranger?”

“Well, I suppose I’ve no reason to keep it a secret.”, Mila sighed. “Alright, here’s my story.”

* * *

** Japan. **

Drago, Cobras and Scales brought their Zords together, with the Serpent arm on the combination’s right and the Balance arm on its left. “Dragon Star Megazord, Slash’N’Bash Formation, Ready!”

“Let’s solve this problem quickly, gentlemen.”, Drago stated, to which the other two saluted.

The Dragon Star engaged the Gearoid, blocking its weapon with the Serpent Arm, before knocking it back and delivering several punches to the Gearoid. “Dragon Kick!” The Megazord jumped up and spun around, hitting the Gearoid with its foot hard enough to knock it down.

“Let’s finish this.”, Drago said as he reconfigured his staff into Rifle Mode and slammed the head down. “Dragon Star Impact!” The Megazord fired two different coloured beams of energy at the Gearoid, blowing it to pieces.

The pilot, Reptak, jumped out of the robot and landed on the ground. The three Rangers noticed this and leapt down to face him. “Alright buddy, who are you?”, Scales asked. “I thought Spectrum eliminated all Gingaku forces on Earth.”

“Ah yes, but I’m not based on Earth.”, Reptak answered him. “I’m one of the three bought in whenever an Omega-Zero by Dark Gears has failed. I repaired this one to test your capabilities before we end this planet.”

“‘End this planet’?”, Cobras repeated. “But how? We defeated the Dark Gears once.”

“Ah, but we’re not going to use Dark Gears.”, Reptak laughed. “We have a new weapon this time.”

“A new weapon?”, Drago said with shock. “What is it?”

* * *

** The Control Gear. **

Myron was still working on the computer. “Now that I’ve been given a few minutes, I should be in the system in just a few seconds.”, he informed the others. The screen glowed green, before an image of a large planetoid came up on the monitor. “Oh no.”

“What’s ‘oh no’ mean?”, Yuri asked.

“We have a large, artificial planetoid approaching Earth.”, Myron informed him. “And they’re sending something out. It looks like… a Zord.”

“But that’s impossible.”, Tarrant insisted. “We have all the Rangers on our side.”

“This Zord isn’t in the legends of the Cosmo Spheres.”, Myron yelled at him. “I know nothing about it.”

* * *

**_ Planet Talpa, 5 Years Ago. _ **

_Mila began her story. “5 years ago, I was part of a ninja school on my home planet, training the next generation of warriors to defend our people. I’d been there for years, yet I was still the last in line, the screw-up, the runt at the end. I had only one friend, a fellow student by the name of Kota._

_I continued as the bottom of the totem pole until one day, when a messenger came into one of our lessons with word that would change my life forever. “There’s a beast! In the forests!”, he yelled. “A beast!”_

_The Master tapped his shoulder. “Calm down.”, he said. “Then talk.”_

_The messenger took a few breaths and then spoke again. “Word has reached the village of a creature in the woods. It isn’t native to our world and someone claims that it fell from the sky.”_

_“You have done well, my friend.” The Master stood up. “You all heard the messenger. There is an unknown beast in the forests. Who will go and prove themselves brave enough to face this creature, even at the cost of his own life?”_

“ _I will.”, Mila said, stepping forward. Everyone except Kota began to laugh at her. “Yes, yes, ‘lets’ all laugh at the weakling’. But I’m serious about this. I’m willing to find this creature and bring it and any threat it poses to an end. If I don’t return, then I wish for the rest of you to flee far from here, where the beast will not get to you.”_

_Kota then stood up. “She’s right. One of us has to take a stand for the others and if any of us had to do it, I’m glad it was Mila. If you think that’s something worth mocking, then you don’t truly have the heart of a warrior.”_

_The Master then began applauding. “Very well said, both of you. I give Mila my permission to seek out this creature. And if you manage to return within the day, bring me some evidence you encountered the creature.”_

_Mila bowed. “I won’t let you down, Master.” She then grabbed her blade and ran off into the forest, in search of the creature._

* * *

_When I found the beast, I saw it looking around before picking something up out of a tree. However, I didn’t think twice about going up to it and attacking with my weapon. “What are you doing on this land, strange creature?”, I said angrily._

_“I could ask you the same question.”, came a reply I was not expecting to come. I assumed that this was a wild animal that had come to prey on the people of the village I came from. I had heard reports of such a beast roaming the woods and went to try and slay it. In my ninja academy, I was considered a troublesome rookie and thought that this beast’s hide would improve my standing. But I wasn’t prepared for the idea it was alive. “I was tracking the signature of this thing here.”, he said as he presented me with a globe hidden within one of the trees. As he held it close to me, it started to glow._

_Confused, I asked “What does this mean?”. Then the ‘beast’ spoke to me to explain things._

_“My name is Drago. I’m a visitor to this world from another system. I came here to take this item with me, but it seems that it wants to be with you. From what I’ve read, it is supposed to transform you into a warrior to defend the universe from a large scale threat. The most common term for it is a ‘Cosmo Sphere’”_

_“But how am I supposed to do that?”, I asked him. “My people are a simple culture. We receive many visitors, but none of us have developed space travel. Plus I don’t know how this ‘Cosmo Sphere’ works.”_

_“I assume you’ll figure that out.”, he told me. Then he handed me a communicator. “In case something happens, use this to contact me.” And then he was gone, leaving me with a strange new item to figure out._

* * *

_I returned to the camp with nothing to show for my efforts but the Cosmo Sphere. At first, everyone laughed at me. But when I held the Sphere in the same hand as my weapon, it transformed it into the Cosmo Blade, which gave me access to greater power. And from that day on, though they stopped treating me like a rookie, I still got ostracised, now because they were afraid of me. A few weeks later, Gingaku came to my planet and began their assault, but I was able to get a few people to safety. As the most powerful girl in the village, I had been forced into the role of their protector. But I knew that Drago hadn’t intended me for that role, so I gave the survivors some_ _weapons and skills, and then I left them. Then I tried calling Drago for help, only to find I was receiving a call from who I thought was him. “Star traveller, is that you?”_

_“Who is this? I’m looking for Drago, I have something I want to ask him.”, the voice on the other end came through._

_“Drago? You mean the humanoid lizard-man? Purple, with grey hair?” I realised this was someone new and thought about how to phrase my problem in the best possible way. “Do you know where he is? My planet’s under attack by strange beings in grey masks and I only have the Cosmo Sphere he gave me to fight back with.”_

_His reply surprised me even more than the caller. “You have a Cosmo Sphere too? Never mind, I can lock in on your signal and find my way to help you. Try and hold out until I get there.” And then the line went dead._

* * *

_Weeks passed, with no signs of him arriving, so I tried experimenting with my Cosmo Sphere. This allowed me to unlock my Morpher and all of its functions, which I used to leave my planet behind. I spent months, years selling and trading items just so I could keep going. Then one day, my contact left me a message. “I’ve got caught up in something, which has forced me to go off the grid for a while. To prevent anyone who could possibly listen in from finding me, only address me as ‘M’ from here on out. As for you, I want you to find and recruit others who have been given a Cosmo Sphere. When you’ve made enough of an impact on the universe, I will give you my co-ordinates and join with you when you get to me. Good luck, Power Ranger.”_

* * *

** The Present. **

Before Mila could elaborate, everyone was shot back by the arrival of Abomiknight. “That’s a great story, but I’m afraid it won’t do you much good in the long run.” He engaged Slash and Jiro in battle, throwing the former back with no effort and knocking the latter back with his chains, which caused Jiro to ice up upon contact. “Because you’ll be going down with the planet, thanks to our newest weapon of destruction.” He held up a Cosmo Sphere, numbered “111” and depicting three different breeds of dog on it. “Behold the power of the Tri-Hound Zord!” A ship, similar in design to the Lion Zord, only in teal and with three dog-themed heads, came down and began firing on the Rangers, knocking them back. “I’ll leave you alive to ruminate on your upcoming demise.” He laughed, as he was beamed up by the ship, which flew off.

* * *

** Japan. **

“We took the data on creating Cosmo Spheres gathered by your Orange friend.”, Reptak explained. “Using it, we created Project Triple-One, or as you would term it, the Tri-Hound Zord.”

“What?”, Drago said with shock. “What use could you have for a Zord?”

“I’ll do better than tell you.”, he slashed at the Commander, knocking him back, before grabbing on to him. “I’ll show you.” Cobras and Scales could only watch, as Reptak teleported away with their Commander.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly original, but the Gearoid battle is from episode 14 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Since I needed to fill out my episode quota, but didn’t have enough episodes planned, I decided to do a recap chapter. However, I avoid making it an outright clip show, as there is some new material included. 
> 
> Abomiknight and Reptak are the secondary villains from Kyuranger’s movie. That should tell you what the next chapter is, as should the ‘flying dog’.


	19. The Oblivion Cosmos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dark Vargas moves his greatest weapons, the Oblivion Cosmos and the Tri-Hound Zord to destroy Earth, with the Rangers struggling to stop him.

** Somewhere above Earth Orbit. **

“Wakey wakey, Drago.” The Dragon Ranger woke up, to find that he was now dressed in a prisoner’s outfit and he was facing a figure clad from head to toe in lilac armour, with teeth on his belly and a pair of black boots. He wielded a sword. “I had you brought here for a reason, that I need you to be awake for.” Drago noticed that the figure was holding his Dragon Staff. “And I can’t be letting you go breaking your way out of my cell, so I took the liberty of taking your cane before I woke you. And don’t expect to see your friends coming to save you. I have an attack squad ready to hold them off.”

“I see that you’ve thought of everything.”, Drago noted. “But I’d like to know who you are exactly.”

“Ah yes, where are my manners?”, the armoured man nodded. “I am Dark Vargas, Captain of the weapon known as the Oblivion Cosmos, upon which you stand.” He brought up a view screen, showing a large diagram of a planet. “It’s an artificial planetoid brought in when Omega-Zeros have failed.”

Gingaku himself appeared on the screen, continuing the speech. “ _The planet marked for destruction is knocked off its axis and into oblivion by the force of an impact. And this time, we have our own weapon in the form of the Tri-Hound Zord._ ” He then turned to face the Commander directly. “ _And we couldn’t have made it without the help of your friend Myron, Commander Drago.”_

Drago was shocked to see that Gingaku wasn’t a recording. “So, the big boss himself sees fit to grace me with his face, but not his presence? Not really letting me get the full intimidation experience, are you?” As he said this, he felt an electric shock, to which he looked down to see a chain at his foot.

“Think carefully about what you say, Dragon.” Drago turned to see Reptak appear, holding a button. “One wrong word, and the next jolt won’t be low-power.”

“Yeah”, Abomiknight said as he came in. “And I’m sure you’d like to watch as your Rangers attempt to rescue you.”, he laughed.

“Exactly.”, Vargas said, clicking his fingers. The chains were released and the doors were open, as the Commander’s clothes were deposited next to him. “Get dressed. Earth is about to be destroyed and I want you to have a front row seat to the chaos.”

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

The other 10 Rangers had regrouped in the Control room. “So Gingaku managed to construct their own Zord, complete with Cosmo Sphere.”, Yuri noted glumly. “And they’re going to use it to destroy the Earth, along with their giant attack planet.”

“This is all my fault.”, Myron said, hitting himself in the face. “If I hadn’t allowed Cha-ChaMari to steal my notes….”

“Blaming yourself won’t help us stop the threat.”, Proton informed him. “For now, we need to try and stop them from using either weapon to destroy us all.”

“Proton’s right.”, Mila said, standing up. “I suggest we lead a full assault on that station to free the Commander and seize control of their Zord. Then we could probably use it to destroy their artificial planet.”

“An applaudable idea, certainly.”, Winda noted. “But with our supply of Cosmo Spheres, we might not have the necessary skill sets to carry out the strike.”

“But what about if you add MY supply?”, Proton announced, clicking his fingers. A treasure chest materialised next to him, which Scales scurried to open. Sure enough, there were more Cosmo Spheres inside. “Your friend Myron isn’t the only one who went around collecting these.”

“But, did you test to see what abilities they all possessed?”, Myron asked. “Because I spent years alone cataloguing the various skills my finds could produce.” Sure enough, he pressed a button on a device he pulled out of his pocket, displaying a list of numbers, followed by descriptions of abilities.”

“If I’m honest, I wasn’t able to carry out such a test.”, Proton answered him. “But I was told one of my collections contained the power of enhanced strength.”

Yuri decided to take charge. “Alright, I’ve got a plan. 9 of us go out to attack that large planet while the other two stay behind and figure out the abilities of these Cosmo Spheres. Are there any objections?” Nobody said anything, with Jiro shaking his head. “Alright, now who’s gonna stay behind?”

“I’m not in a rush to get back to space.”, Barry chimed in. “So I can handle this.”

“Plus my own transport still hasn’t charged up.”, Proton added. “So I’ll handle that duty. Plus, it’ll allow me to get to know young Barry better.”

“Well, that’s all dandy then.”, Jiro said. “So can we get going now?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to pound some heads together again.”, Tarrant exclaimed.

“Ok then, let’s go.”, Yuri said as he lead the others in departing.

“Good luck, everyone.”, Proton said under his breath as he and Barry started looking over the Cosmo Spheres.

* * *

** The Oblivion Cosmos. **

A ship landed on the planet, from which Dark Soul emerged. Only Reptak was there to greet him. “Dark Vargas sends his apologies, but he’s held up with a special priority prisoner at the moment.”, Reptak explained.

“That’s okay, I’m not here for him.”, Dark Soul replied. “I know that the Power Rangers will launch an attack on the planetoid. I want to see that the Red Ranger is among them.”

“Of course sir.”, Reptak nodded and excused himself.

Dark Soul then pulled his sword out. “And then I’ll see him dead for what he did to me.”, he continued where he had left off.

* * *

Out in space, the 9 Zords approached the Oblivion Cosmos. “What do you suppose the rent is on a place like that?”, Tarrant asked.

“Not the best question right now.”, Jiro responded. “That thing’s going to destroy the Earth.”

A fleet of Gingaku fighters emerged from the planet’s surface, engaging the Zords in battle. “This is where the fun begins then.”, Myron said as the Rangers began spinning their Zords around while firing, which took out a good number of them.

As his Lion Zord took hits, Yuri engaged the combination. “Zords, combine!”

After a slight false start, with the Bull and Wolf Zords attaching as the left and right arms respectively, before being blown off by laser fire, the Megazord tried forming with Orange and Yellow as the right and left legs, only for the latter to be blown off. Eventually, the Megazord formed with Green as the right arm, Gold as the left arm, Orange as the right leg and Black as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, complete!” They were then forced apart by more fire, as they headed towards the planet.

“Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way.”, Yuri noted. The Rangers pulled up at a crucial moment, all managing to land safely, but with the side effect of being separated into groups. Yuri was with Mila and Scales as a result of this. “Let’s just get in there and find the Commander, never mind the rest of them.”

“Yeah.”, the two of them nodded. “We need to put the mission before the team.” All three then ran inside the nearest airlock.

* * *

In his control room, Dark Vargas saw the Rangers scattered throughout the planet. “So, they think that they can possibly stop the carnage at hand?” He pulled out his sword and moved to the door. “I’ll just have to show them their folly.”

* * *

In the corridors, Yuri’s group came across a group of Detainers in their path. “This could be a problem.”, Scales noted.

“I’ll say.”, Yuri said, bringing up his communicator. “Proton, have you found that super strength sphere yet?”

“ _No, but I think this could be it._ ” A Cosmo Sphere marked “51” appeared in Yuri’s hand. “ _Of course, I have no way of telling, but that’s what these tests are for.”_

“Let me try it.”, Scales said, snatching the Cosmo Sphere, twisting it into position and inserting it into his Morpher. “Ok, here goes nothing.” He pulled the Sphere back and pressed the button, causing there to be a bright flash.

The guards noticed the flash and went over to the corner to investigate. When they got there, they found Scales, who was now wearing a dress, with lipstick on his mouth area and a horrendous wig resembling woman’s hair. “Hello boys.”, he said in a bad falsetto while waving his hand.

From nearby, Yuri facepalmed while Mila picked up the Cosmo Sphere. “From now on, only I get to use this.”, she insisted as she reached out for the Sphere, only to feel her hand being jerked sideways. She ignored this and inserted the Sphere, activating it.

“Now now, don’t push.”, Scales urged as he backed away from the two Detainers, who were approaching him lustfully. “There’s plenty to go around.”

“Oh gentlemen.” Both Detainers turned towards the source of the voice, a human woman in an elaborate dress, caked in makeup. “Wouldn’t you rather turn your attention to someone who can… provide for you adequately?” The two Detainers shrugged and went back to pursuing the first “woman”. “Seriously?”, Mila said, with some annoyance. She put her Cosmo Sphere into her Morpher and transformed. She proceeded to beat up the two Detainers with her Cosmo Blade. “Some people have no taste.”, she commented.

“I don't know, I liked getting some attention.”, Scales said, slightly disappointed.

“Never mind that now, let’s go.”, Yuri urged. “Drago is waiting for us.”

* * *

On another part of the planet, another group of Rangers, consisting of Tarrant, Jiro and Cobras was making their way across the planet’s surface. “Well, well. Three Rangers, all a long way from home.” The three turned to see Abomiknight approach, swinging his chains. “I’ll enjoy crushing you between my feet.”

“The only one being crushed here is you.”, Tarrant said, as he prepared his Cosmo Sphere.

“Yeah, by us.”, Jiro added, also preparing his Sphere.

“Under our feet.”, Cobras added, much to everyone’s confusion. “Let’s just defeat this slime.”, he said in an attempt to save face.

The three Rangers inserted their Spheres and ran forward, calling out “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” In an instant, they were morphed into their Ranger suits and charging towards their opponent.

“Come on.”, Abomiknight declared as he began swinging his chains around in defence. Cobras was knocked back by the chains, but the other two pushed through and began wrestling with the yeti-like alien.

On the ground, Cobras called Proton. “Have you found that super strength sphere yet?”

“ _Not quite, but I think I’ve got a good match._ ”, came the response. A new Sphere, numbered ‘43’ emerged from Cobras’ belt. “ _I hope it turns out better than the embarrassment Yuri’s team went through._ ”

“It’s worth a try.”, Cobras said as he inserted the Sphere and pulled it back. His neck expanded suddenly. “This is definitely not super strength.”, he said as he knocked his face into Abomiknight, knocking him back.

“Thanks for… whatever that was.”, Tarrant said, pulling out his Axe. “Now we can do some weeding.” He swung it at Abomiknight knocking him down.

“This isn’t over.”, Abomiknight growled as he stood up and teleported away. The Rangers merely high-fived each other, which was slightly hampered by Cobras’ long neck.

* * *

The third group, consisting of Slash, Winda and Myron found their way into the Oblivion Cosmos’ control room. “From here, we should be able to disable the station before it can collide with the Earth.”, Winda said as she began interfacing with the computer.

“And I can find that artificial Cosmo Sphere and use it to shut down that Zord they created.”, Myron said as he began looking throughout the room.

“I don’t know, this all seems too easy.”, Slash thought. “The security seems to be non-existent around here, almost as if….”

“I found the Sphere.”, Myron called out. But as he reached out to touch it, it faded in and out of existence. “A hologram. It s a trap.”

“And you fell for it.” Everyone turned to face the newcomer, who was holding the real Cosmo Sphere in his hand. “Do you really think I wouldn’t keep this close to me?”, he asked.

“Dark Vargas.”, Winda stated. “I presumed you would be behind this.”

“Ah yes, the former server droid that became a Ranger, I’ve heard of you.”, Vargas responded. “No doubt every piece of information about me is catalogued inside your data banks.”

“Indeed.”, Winda nodded. “I know that you destroyed your entire planet’s populace to join Gingaku, I know that you had ten systems strip-mined to create you super weapon, the Oblivion Cosmos. I know that you’re to use it whenever an Omega-Zero has failed to finish the job slowly and painfully. And I know that your real name is…”

“Yes, yes that’s enough.”, Vargas insisted. “I’m sure you Rangers picked up the point. I am going to destroy your precious Earth. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

“Maybe,” Myron said as he pulled out the Unicorn-27 Sphere and prepped it “but that won’t stop us from trying.” Winda and Slash did likewise with their own Spheres. “To start, I’m going to take that Sphere from you.” The Rangers inserted their Spheres, transforming.

“You’re welcome to try.”, Vargas retorted as he began fighting the Rangers with his sword. It locked with Myron’s horn arm, and was knocked aside. “Very good, but that’s not my only weapon.” He pulled out a gun and shot at the Rangers, knocking them back. “But your determination is commendable. In fact, it’s given me an idea.”

* * *

Yuri’s group finally found their way to the brig. As expected, Drago was standing right in front of them. “This is almost too easy.”, Scales said as he ran over to the cell. “Hey Commander, we’re here to rescue you.”

But as he reached the bars, they vanished, along with the prisoner within. Reptak then appeared from the shadows, laughing. “I can’t believe you fell for that.”, he mocked as he brandished his sword. “Finishing you will be even more satisfying.”

Yuri and Mila ran forward, instantly morphing and blocking Reptak’s sword with their own. “Where’s the real Commander?”, the former asked.

“He’s where you’ll never find him.”, Reptak said as he slashed his opponent’s back with his weapon. He then raised it as he advanced. “And I’m going to make sure you never do.”

“ _Reptak, stop._ ” The voice of Dark Vargas echoed through the room. “ _I’m going to offer the Rangers a fighting chance. They can have their leader back, along with the Cosmo Sphere and a guarantee that I will leave Earth._ ”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”, Mila noted dryly.

“ _But only if you can defeat me and my warriors in a battle to the finish on your planet. We’ll send the co-ordinates to your Control Gear and send you all back to Earth. You have 24 hours to prepare. Good luck.”_

* * *

The 9 Rangers were surrounded by a blue light, that when cleared, revealed a street on Earth. “We’ve been issued a challenge.”, Myron surmised.

“And I don’t think we can back out.”, Yuri continued. “We need to prepare.”

* * *

** Oblivion Cosmos Control Room. **

“You let them go?”, Dark Soul growled at Vargas. “You do realise you’ve given them an opportunity to thwart your plans in greater time?”

“Not by much.”, Vargas replied. “I never said I would halt Oblivion Cosmos’ journey through space. Even if they win the prizes, they can’t save their precious planet. Speaking of which, I thought you’d show more of a reaction to what we’re about to do. This is your planet, after all.”

“This WAS my planet.”, Dark Soul insisted. “I have severed all connections to it, all but the existence of the Red Ranger. He left me to rot and my scars of betrayal burn deep.” He turned to Vargas. “I’ll be returning to the Brainworld. Make sure the Red Ranger doesn’t make it out.” With that said, he left the room.

“Don’t worry, I will.”, Vargas said as he put his hand on his chin, beginning to laugh.

* * *

** Earth, The Next Day. **

The 9 main Rangers stood on the edge of a quarry. “Alright, team. If we fail here, then the Earth is doomed and the universe remains under Gingaku’s control forever.”, Yuri reminded them. “What happens in the next battle will decide the fate of the entire universe. We need to give it our all, for the sake of Drago, and for the sake of all the people we’ve sworn to fight for, like Pamela and Heath and Kota. Are you ready for this?”

“Yes.”, everyone responded, pumping their arms.

“There’s no turning back from this point.”, Yuri said. “And none of us would have it any other way. It’s Morphing Time!” Everyone pulled their Cosmo Spheres out, rotated them into formation and inserted them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unelash!” Everyone pulled their Spheres back, firing their triggers, releasing waves of energy that surrounded them and turned them into the Power Rangers.

The Rangers all walked up through the quarry, where they came face to face with the three Oblivion Cosmos leaders. “You were fools to show up.”, Vargas stated as Abomiknight beat his chest. “Because you stand no chance of defeating me or saving your world.”

“Don’t underestimate us.”, Yuri responded. “We just might surprise you.” As the two sides stood off, the Rangers all summoned their individual weapons and charged in to attack, with Abomiknight and Reptak doing likewise. Vargas stayed behind for a few seconds before joining his underlings. This resulted in a massive battle, with Winda and Scales causing explosions with their fire as a free-for-all broke out. Yuri and Jiro fought Vargas while Slash dragged Reptak by his collar over to Winda and Mila, who joined the scuffle.

Scales and Cobras were engaging Abomiknight, along with Myron, but he had the advantage strength wise. “You were fools to face me.”, the yeti declared. “I am the strongest in -.” But he was interrupted by his hands being tied up by a rope, or more accurately a scarf. “What is this?”

It was Barry. “Nice to see you remembered your part.”, Myron commented. The Rangers had discussed the plan earlier, working on an ambush for the enemy at the meeting site.

“You can’t keep a good bear down.”, Barry said as he inserted the Bear-22 Sphere into his Morpher. “Plus Up!” The now giant Sky Ranger began swinging Abomiknight into the walls of the quarry, before slamming him onto the ground.

“Now’s our chance.”, Myron said, running forward.

Elsewhere, Winda was flying in the air. “Take this, Reptak.”, she declared as she fired her Cosmo Blaster at Reptak, who was sparring with Slash. The distraction allowed Mila to disperse her camouflage and deliver more hits to him.

But Reptak recovered quickly, blocking the hits from his opponents with his sword. “Do you think you can win that easily?”, he asked as he pushed Slash aside.

Tarrant had joined Yuri and Jiro in fighting Vargas, who was blocking all of their hits. “I will triumph.”, Vargas declared as he released energy which forced the three back.

“Rocket Saber!”, Reptak declared as he sent his sword flying towards his opponents, getting the better of them.

Abomiknight faced down his four opponents, pushing Myron and Barry back with his bare hands. Scales and Cobras jumped in front of their allies as their opponent prepped his chains. But Abomiknight sent his chains into the ground, engulfing all of them in an explosion.

Vargas then looked up to the sky. “I’ll give you a taste of what Oblivion Cosmos is capable of. Fire!” The large planet shot a laser at the battlefield, sending the 10 Rangers flying and knocking them out of their morph. “The 10 of you could’ve defeated us but for the loss of one Ranger.”, he gloated as he held out his 111 Cosmo Sphere.

* * *

** The Control Gear. **

Proton saw all of this with fear. “I’m going to have to do it, charging process be darned.”, he said as he darted out of the room, past one of the nominal staff for the facility.

* * *

** The Battlefield. **

“Say farewell to your Earth, Power Rangers.”, Dark Vargas declared. “The 10 of you cannot stop it’s end.”

“How about 11 of us?” Everyone looked up to see Drago leaping down, now back in his normal clothes and wielding his staff once more. “Your jail can’t hold me, Vargas.”, Drago gloated. “Or should I say, Deimos?”

Vargas growled. “So, you figured out my true identity, Drago.”, he said, removing his helmet to reveal a skeletal face with a large brain. He then put the helmet back on. “But that won’t save this planet, or your Rangers.”

“Maybe not, but it makes all the difference.”, Yuri said. “Let’s go!” Everyone got up and morphed instantly, turning back into their Ranger suits. “Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

Myron was next. “Venom of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

Then came Jiro. “Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

Scales: “The Balance between Good and Evil, Gold Ranger!”

Tarrant: “Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

Cobras: “Glimmer of the Serpent, Silver Ranger!”

Mila: “Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

Winda: “Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

Slash: “Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

Drago: “Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

And Barry was the last. “Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“Bringing the universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

“You’re all going down.”, Yuri said as he pointed his arm at the three enemies.

“Funny, I was about to say the same about you.”, Vargas declared. “Get them.” He swung his sword, charged with energy at the Rangers, who merely outran the resulting fireball.

A new fight broke out, with everyone going for new opponents. Tarrant went for Reptak, pushing him backwards, before placing his Cosmo Sphere on his Cosmo Axe. “Say bye-bye.”, the Black Ranger declared as he bought the axe down on Reptak. He was followed by Mila with the Cosmo Blade and Slash with the Cosmo Dagger.

“No, not now.”, Reptak declared as he exploded.

“We did it.”, the three Rangers celebrated.

The group of Barry, Scales, Cobras and Winda faced Abomiknight, all firing into his body directly and moving around to land hits on him. “Hey, that’s not fair.”, he complained as the four hit him with their final attacks, destroying him as the four jumped out of the way.

Vargas made short work of Myron before coming face to face with Drago, who fired on him, only to be blocked. “You can’t win, Deimos. Strike us down and you’ll inspire the rest of the universe to follow our example.” He fired again, grazing his enemy’s shoulder.

Yuri then leapt forward to deliver some slashes, which Vargas avoided by jumping to a higher ground. However, Jiro climbed after him, ultimately managing to knock him back, before joining Myron in landing a hit on him. “Yuri, it’s on you.”, Myron said as he jumped away.

“Thank you.”, Yuri said as he jumped towards Vargas with his charged weapon, surrounding him in flames. Yuri then leapt back and called all the Rangers closer to him. “Let’s finish this guy off once and for all.”, Yuri urged. “Together.”

“Ok.”, everyone nodded as they prepared their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” Vargas growled as the beams hit him.

However, instead of being destroyed, he was merely knocked back. “You may have defeated me, but you can’t stop the end of this planet.” He ran towards Drago, grabbing his staff and inserting the Cosmo Sphere he had into it. “Come forth, Tri-Hound Zord!”

The Earth itself began to shake, with fire shooting everywhere as the Zord rose up from the Earth, flying off as the sky’s cleared and Vargas laughed. The Zord made it to town, where it proceeded to destroy buildings, sending the citizens running.

“I’ll stop this.”, Yuri said, running forward. But he got stopped by Vargas, who engaged in a fight with him.

However, Drago picked up his Staff and took over the fight. “Go Yuri, stop the destruction.”

“Summon Zords.”, Everyone summoned their Zords and went to face Gingaku’s. However, Winda, Barry, Jiro, Scales and Slash were all knocked out of the sky. “He’s too powerful.”, Mila exclaimed. “We need to get that thing under control.”

It was then that Yuri received a new Cosmo Sphere, labelled “18” from his belt. “ _I’m 99% sure this is the super strength Sphere._ ”, Proton radioed him.

“Let’s try it out.”, Yuri exclaimed as he jumped out onto his Zord. “Hercules-18 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He pushed it backwards and fired, causing his muscles to supercharge. “Let’s do this.” He lifted his Sphere cockpit off his Zord and threw it onto the Tri-Hound, with the others stepping in to stop said Zord from getting away. The Sphere landed on the Tri-Hound, turning turquoise to match it as Yuri landed inside.

* * *

From the ground, Drago witnessed this and pulled out the Triple-One Sphere. “Thanks for providing us with this, Deimos.”, he said as he sent it through his belt.

* * *

As Yuri entered his cockpit, the Triple-One Sphere appeared in front of him. “Time to put this to good use.”, he said as he inserted it into his Morpher. “Tri-Hound, Combine!” The Zord portions of the Yellow and Green Zords became the right and left arms, while the full Black and Silver Zords forming the legs. The three dog heads turned around, with the middle one opening its mouth. “Tri-Hound Megazord, Ready!”

* * *

As the new Megazord stood tall, Drago and Dark Vargas could only watch. “Get back in the fight, Abomiknight!”, the latter demanded. Abomiknight’s growth implant exploded, restoring him as a giant.

“Take this.”, Abomiknight declared as he breathed his icy breath at the Tri-Hound. He then proceeded to engage in a fight with the Megazord.

“We don’t have time.”, Winda radioed. “The Oblivion Cosmos will collide with the planet in a few minutes.”

The Tri-Hound blasted Abomiknight with thunder. “We need to go.”, Yuri said. As if on cue, a new robot, white and red with a blue “cape” and wielding twin swords descended from the sky.

“What’s that?”, Abomiknight growled.

“It’s my secret weapon.”, Proton responded. “And you made me use it early.” He began swinging his swords at Abomiknight, allowing Yuri to direct the Tri-Hound’s fire on the Oblivion Cosmos. However, the planet didn’t suffer any damage from the hit.

“This is bad.”, Winda continued to read off the scans. “The Tri-Hound would need to be a giant to destroy the planet.”

Slash noticed the planetoid brush past the moon and had a realisation. “Yuri, use the Moon end of the Dual Sphere.”

“Worth a shot.”, Yuri said as he inserted it into his Morpher and pressed the button. The Tri-Hound Megazord grew to giant size, with the other 5 Rangers being sucked inside and ending up in a shared cockpit with the 5 that were already there. “Okay, this is weird.”, Yuri said as he noticed the Earth beneath them appeared to be tiny.

The Oblivion Cosmos continued to enter the atmosphere, but was blocked by the Tri-Hound, which generated a shield around the world, causing it to resemble a Cosmo Sphere. “Tri-Cosmic Energy Assault!”, the 9 Rangers declared. The Oblivion Cosmos was knocked out into space and hit with three beams of fire, thunder and ice, destroying it totally. “This Space is ours.”, Yuri declared.

* * *

Down on Earth, Proton placed his Galaxy Saber in his shield before pulling it out. “Time to end this.”, he declared as his robot cut through Abomiknight, destroying him. “This’ll set me back.”, he said.

Vargas saw this occur from afar. “No, my plans are all ruined. My men, my weapon, my Zord… all gone.”

“And it’s about to get worse for you.”, Drago said as he aimed his Staff in rifle mode and fired. “Goodbye, Deimos.”

Dark Vargas took the blast and allowed himself to collapse. “You may have defeated me, but you should beware of my younger brother, beware of Orbis.”

With that said, he exploded, leaving Drago to ponder his last words. “Orbis, hmmm? That could be trouble.”

* * *

** The Control Gear. **

As the 12 Rangers all returned, Yuri saw the Triple-One Cosmo Sphere fall apart in his hand. “I guess it couldn’t handle being used with my system.”, he noted.

“That’s what happens when you rely on substitutes to make progress.”, Myron nodded. “Let’s just hope this is the last time Gingaku experiments with Cosmo Spheres.”

“For now, let’s just focus on settling in to this place.”, Mila suggested. “And getting it ready for the arrival of Commander Goodman.”

“I’ve got it.”, Drago said. “The perfect name for this place is… Providence Base.”

“That actually sounds pretty good.”, Slash said after some thought, with everyone else nodding in agreement.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku viewed the destruction of the Oblivion Cosmos on a screen. “Can’t those fools do anything right?”, he fumed.

“I didn’t fail you, master.”, Dark Soul said. “In fact, I snuck a virus into one of their Cosmo Spheres, one that will ensure they are unable to defend themselves when I attack their base.”

“You can count on me to lead that attack successfully, my Lord.”, Tricerodo claimed. “I won’t let you down.”

“Like you didn’t let him down in destroying Earth?”, Coiloga pointed out. “No offence, but I think you’d be better bringing me along to guide you. The two of us reunited.”

“Make that the three of us.” Everyone turned to see the new voice’s source, the same figure that had sensed the Fire Knight’s reawakening. He had donned his own cape, with red leg guards and a golden shoulder pad like the others.

“Katseayor, you’ve returned.”, Coiloga said with shock. “Where've you been?”

“I’ve been biding my time, waiting for him to return.”, Katseayor answered his comrade. He then turned towards Gingaku. “Now that I have, I request your permission to rejoin your forces and assist in securing your power, my one true master.”

“Your request is granted.”, Gingaku said, a smile forming beneath his hood. “With all three of my Victorious Generals once more assembled, the doom of the Power Rangers is all but assured.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is adapted from Kyuranger’s movie, the Geth Indaver Strikes Back. 
> 
> Dark Vargas’ name is an obvious spoof of Darth Vader, while the Oblivion Cosmos is a G-rated version of the Death Star. Abomiknight and Reptak are self-explanatory. 
> 
> The subplot concerning the Virgin-51 Sphere is mostly humorous, but will play a role in the next episode.
> 
> And now, all three of the Vice-Shogun counterparts have appeared. I won’t explain the origins of their names until next time, though.


	20. Hidden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Proton’s search for the children of Earth leads to him discovering the past has come back to haunt him. Meanwhile, most of the Rangers are turned into women by a malfunctioning Cosmo Sphere.

**Providence Base.**

A light aircraft descended to land next to the captured Control Gear, with the passenger disembarking. “Commander Goodman, welcome to Providence Base.”, Winda greeted. “Rest assured that everything has been set up for our use.”

“I should hope so, given you had time to name it.”, Goodman responded. “I hear you’ve got a new Ranger for your team. Can I see him?”

“I’ll see what I can arrange with him.”, Winda answered. “For now, I think I should show you the base inside and out.”

“As long as there’s a half-decent bed in this place, I’ll be happy.”, Goodman said, to the android’s confusion. “Never mind.”

* * *

Inside the structure, Proton was reviewing the logbooks that had been transported earlier. “So all the children on Earth of a certain age have vanished and there’s been no trace of them, even as Gingaku’s hold over Earth weakened.”, he noted.

“That’s pretty much the gist of it.”, Slash nodded.

“Yeah, and I nearly joined the rest of them before Yuri made me a Ranger.”, Barry added. “Thank god I escaped that fate.”

“Yes.”, Proton said to himself. “How very fortunate of you.”

The small discussion was interrupted by Winda, who was still giving her tour of the base. “And this is one of the living quarters, which is currently being occupied by our newest member…”

“It’s you.”, Commander Goodman said with shock upon seeing Proton. “I don’t know how, but I know for a fact I’ve seen you before when I was a kid.”

“You must be mistaken.”, Proton insisted. “Now then Barry. Can I have a word with you?”

“No, I do know you, just not personally.”, Goodman insisted. “My brother and I both looked up to you.”

“I assure you I’ve never set foot on Earth before now.”, Proton said, somewhat hesitantly. “Now then Barry, let’s go.” He took the child and left the room.

“Something’s up with him.”, Slash realised. “He seemed very insistent to deny your story, Commander.”

“Plus he’s taken Barry off with him to a place I register to be outside the confines of this base.”, Winda noted.

“You’d better check him out.”, Goodman told them. “Or do you not take orders from me?”

“We’ll take this one.”, Winda nodded, before grabbing Slash and dragging him out. “Now let’s go.”

* * *

In another room of the Control Gear, the rest of the Rangers were in conference. “All right team, we’ve successfully liberated Earth from the control of Gingaku, now we need to plan our next move.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to free other planets.”, Scales pointed out. “Most of them only have one Controller for the whole planet.”

“Right.”, Myron nodded. “So I think our main target should be Gingaku himself.”

“But that’s where we run into problems.”, Mila pointed out. “We don’t know anything about him, who he is, or what planet he’s based on.”

“He could be Dark Specter.”, Jiro suggested.

“Who?”, Yuri, Tarrant and Cobras all said in unison.

“Ya know, Dark Specter. He tried to take over the whole universe a while back, but the Power Rangers stopped him. But there’s talk here and there that he reincarnated as Lord Gingaku thanks to a part of him that survived and merged with something else.”

Myron simply stared at his friend. “With respect Jiro, that sounds stupid.” He then pulled up his own list. “Another thing I think we should prioritise is collecting all the Cosmo Spheres, to maximise our potential power. I’ve looked over the list myself and Proton made and found that we were missing numbers ‘13, 14, 33, 36, 38, 40, 45, 54, 73’ and ‘77’, in addition to any with a number higher than 89.”

“But we don’t even know where to start looking for them.”, Mila pointed out. She took out the Virgin-51 Sphere she had taken to carrying around. “It was only through frantic searching that we found ones like this.” She tapped it on the table, causing a pink energy to burst forth from the Sphere, knocking Mila out and subsuming everyone.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Dark Soul witnessed the energy burst on a map of Earth. “I’ve found it.” He then turned to Gingaku’s Three Victorious Generals. “What do you say to launching an attack on the Rangers’ base?”

Katseayor fumed. “It’s not the Fire Knight, but it’ll do for target practice.”

Tricerodo giggled. “Well, I’d love to take the chance to beat up those pesky Rangers.”

Coiloga was more sceptical. “You really think the Rangers won’t fight us off when we get there?”

“I know it.”, Dark Soul responded. “The Cosmo Sphere I infected has the ability to make the target more feminine. The virus amplified and expanded its effects to all the Rangers in the vicinity. The Rangers have become so feminine that they won’t be able to put up an effective fight.”

“Ha. I like the way you think.”, Coiloga said, rubbing his claw. “I’ll join you in your attack then. It’ll be fun to destroy those Rangers while they can’t defend themselves.”

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

“Mila, are you okay?” Mila woke up to see Scales and Tarrant kneeling over her. “You passed out after banging that Sphere against the table. At least you weren’t affected by it.”, the former said.

“Yeah, the others aren’t looking too good after that burst.”, Tarrant added.

Mila immediately darted up. “What happened to the others?” When she looked around, she found out for herself. All of them now had longer hair and different chests. “Oh no, they all turned into women.”, she moaned.

“I don’t know, it’s not too bad.”, Yuri pointed out. “I don’t even have to change my name, since Yuri works for both genders. If only I had some clothes that fit me better.”

“Hey, how come you guys weren’t affected by the energy burst?”, Jiro asked.

“Well, Tarrant and I are robots, so we’re going to be unaffected, since we don’t have genders to change.”, Scales suggested. “And since Mila is already a woman, she was immune to the pulse.”

Myron, or as Mila had decided to mentally call her, Myra, inspected the Cosmo Sphere. “I doubt it was a malfunction of the Sphere. More likely someone tampered with it to create the pulse. I should study it, try to find a way to reverse this.”

“You do that, My.”, Mila said, deciding to give her a pet name to avoid slipping. “Anyway Yuri, you were talking about getting new clothes? Because I think a few places have reopened recently.”

* * *

** Central Europe. **

Proton and Barry walked into an alley. “Did we have to come all the way out here?”, the latter asked. “Surely you could’ve just told me what you wanted to know back at Providence?”

“I needed to be somewhere totally confidential.”, Proton insisted, as he put his hand on the kid’s neck. “Now then, do you have your Cosmo Spheres, like I requested?”

Barry took out the Cub-11 and Bear-22 Spheres from his pocket. “Sure, but why were you so keen to make sure I had them.”

Proton then grabbed the two Spheres, pocketed them and started yelling. “Gingaku, there’s a loose child wandering your alleyways. Come and pick him up to take him to wherever you take them.” Before Barry could say anything, he was taken away by a pair of Detainers, who threw a sack over his head and carried him off.

“Barry!” Proton turned around to see Winda and Slash running over to him. The latter then grabbed him by the neck. “Ok bud, what’s the big idea? I thought you were on our side and you go and hand over one of us to the enemy?”

“Cool your jets, big boy.”, Proton said as he freed himself. “You don’t think I wouldn’t make sure Barry was tagged with a homing beacon?” Sure enough, he pulled out a device, which had a moving red dot on a screen. “I needed a way to find the captured children and noticed that most of the disappearances happened around this area of the world. And this wicked cool device uses bleeding edge gear to locate a target anywhere.”

“Even in a secure facility that wasn’t meant to be known about.”, Winda realised. “But why wouldn’t you tell us about this before executing your plan?”

“I’ve never had to consult with others before doing anything.”, Proton answered as his device pinged. “Outrageous. Barry’s been taken to a place in Russia called Norilsk. This mission just became mad difficult.”

“I assume you’ll be undertaking this part of your mission alone as well.”, Slash said bitterly.

“Not at all.”, Proton insisted. “My days as a solo act are so 87. You’re both coming with me, so I can understand you better.”

“‘Outrageous’, ‘so 87’, Proton’s language seems more strange than most speakers.”, Winda thought to herself as they set off.

* * *

** The High Street. **

Yuri came out of a shop, wearing a hat, a red jacket and a new shirt. “What do you think? Does this really match my new self?”, she asked.

“I suppose it does.”, Mila answered. She too had come out in a new outfit, consisting of a green blouse, with black trousers and a hoodie mixing the two colours. “Now then, where do we go next?” Before she could receive an answer, she saw a ship flying overhead. “Oh no.”

“What’s ‘oh no’ mean?”, Yuri asked.

“That ship’s from Gingaku. And it’s heading for Providence.”, Mila responded. “We need to go. Now.”

* * *

** Underneath Norilsk, Russia. **

Proton’s trio emerged to find themselves in a fully-built town, with an artificial skyline and massive lighting. “All this seems elaborate for a hidden facility.”, Slash pointed out. “They’ve even got a Dark Gear, for crying out loud.”

“Well, the town above us is very uninhabitable.”, Winda pointed out. “They may have built this town as a replacement.”

“That’s all stellar, but it’s not why we’re here.”, Proton pointed out. “We’re here to find out what they’re up to with those kids.” His machine pinged again. “Ah, it seems they took Barry into that building over there.” He pointed to an ominous looking facility right in front of them.

“And I suppose we’re going to just walk in there through the front door.”, Slash suggested sarcastically.

* * *

As it turns out, they went in through the back door, making their way to the records vault. They were viewed on a screen by a figure with a long neck, blue, white and purple skin, a motor-board and a tie on his body. He was carrying a staff. “So, we have some truants in the record room. I’d better give them detention.”

“ _No_ ”, the image of Gingaku appeared via hologram. “ _I’ll deal with them myself. You get outside and wait_.”

* * *

** Outside Providence Base. **

Mila and Yuri arrived in time to see the attackers clearly. “That is definitely Dark Soul.”, Mila realised. “But who are the other three?”

“Even if we knew, I don’t think we can take them on our own.”, Yuri pointed out. “We should call in the others.”

“Good idea.”, Mila brought up her communicator. “Guys, I’d hate to alarm you, but we’ve got an invasion on our hands. We need to get out here and stop it.”

“We’re aware of that, Mila.”, Tarrant responded. “We’ve just got a problem on our hands here.”

“What kind of a problem?”, Mila asked with some frustration.

“The ones affected by that pulse, they’re refusing to fight.”, Scales answered. “Well, Myron is still in his…her lab working on a reversal, so we didn’t ask them. But everyone else has become afraid to fight.”

Mila sighed. “This is all we need. You two and I will have to do.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.”, Dark Soul called out. “We’ll take out the rest of them at the same time we deal with you.”

* * *

** Underneath Norilsk. **

Proton and his group were looking over the books in the record room. “This gym curriculum is pretty spaz.”, Proton announced. “Heavy lifting, whipping, raising pick axes. This sounds more like slavery training.”

“That’s not all.”, Winda pointed out. “I’m browsing this history book and it’s nothing but the victories accomplished by villains, with none of their defeats recorded at all. For instance, it points out that Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd captured the Shogunzords, the Pink Ninja Power Coin and the sage known as Ninjor, but no mention is made of the original Power Rangers taking all of that back from them.”

“ _But of course, my dear server_.”, the voice of Gingaku echoed, before a hologram of the man himself appeared. “ _We can’t have our future workforce rising up against us. Any story saying that the universe’s protectors won is now a rumour._ ”

“I know that voice.”, Proton thought to himself, before preparing himself to say something about it.

“So, you must be Lord Gingaku.”, Slash said first. “I never thought I’d meet you.”

Proton laughed. “‘Lord Gingaku’? Is that what you’re calling yourself now? You must be really desperate to get away from the pain of me beating you.”

Winda was shocked to hear this. “Proton, do you know Gingaku?”

“Know him? I know your real name, Gingaku. Or should I call you by something more familiar: Orbis?”

Gingaku laughed. “ _You dare mock me for using a false identity? You’re certainly one to talk, Kyle._ ”

Slash and Winda were shocked to hear this. “What’s he talking about? Why did he call you ‘Kyle’?”, the former asked.

Proton sighed. “Ok, I’ll spill it, but only to you two. My real name is Kyle Jennings. Forty years ago, I was sent into space in order to investigate a mysterious planet that astrologers wanted to learn more about. To avoid panicking the public, I was sent up in secret with no fanfare. On that planet, I found the Firebird-12 Cosmo Sphere. But that wasn’t the only thing I found there.”

“ _Yes_.”, Gingaku continued. “ _He found me, then just a humble warrior within Gingaku, along with my brother Deimos, who your friend Drago recently made short work of. We had taken our combined forces to the planet in search of a Cosmo Sphere, so that we may harness its power.”_

“You didn’t do a good job dealing with me.”, Proton stated. “The Cosmo Sphere, merged with my space suit, turning me into the Fire Knight. I crafted the Galaxy Saber out of a stone and used it to cripple Deimos and make quick work of your big guy. I left the planet, but Orbis pursued me throughout the universe, accompanied by a group of three. After many confrontations, I managed to destroy him for good, but I heard that my power would still be needed in the future. So I had my body sealed away until I was needed again.” He turned back towards the hologram of his old enemy. “What about you, how are you still alive, kicking and in charge of the universe?”

“ _Your attack may have injured me, but I lived_.”, came the response. “ _I wanted revenge, but I couldn’t find you. So I turned my attention to something I had intended for a long time; seizing control of Gingaku and then the universe. The skills I had acquired in our battles allowed me to achieve the first objective, and I now had the resources for the second. It took years of meticulous planning, but I was able to achieve total control of the universe, able to control the order of living beings, stabilising the universe from self-destruction.”_

“You stabilised nothing.”, Slash yelled. “You took everyone’s freedoms from them, just like your doing with these kids here.”

“ _Ah, but I’m not in charge of educating these children_.”, Gingaku pointed out. “ _That would be my mandatory education controller, Struct. He’s waiting for you outside, if you want to deal with him and save these children.”_

“Challenge accepted.”, Proton stated. “Let’s go.”

* * *

The three ran outside, where they saw Struct, standing there waiting. “So you’re the legendary Fire Knight, huh?”, Struct declared. “And two of the Power Rangers. Defeating you three will be an honour.”

“That is if you can defeat us.”, Proton told him. “Galaxy Saber!” The image of a Firebird flew up to him, taking the form of his shield, with a sword in it. He then pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and aligned it. “Set!” He inserted the Sphere into the hilt of the sword. “Rise!” He held down of the trigger of the sword.

Slash and Winda pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and aligned them. “It’s Morphing Time!” They summoned their Morphers and inserted their Spheres into them.

“Change!”, Proton announced as he pulled his sword out from his shield. Fire emitted from the blade, surrounding him and turning him into the Fire Knight.

“Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Winda and Slash pushed their Spheres forward and fired, turning into their Ranger forms.

“Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

“Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“The Burning Challenger! Fire Knight!”

“I’ll give you a warning.”, Proton told Struct as he raised his sword. “One of us won’t be leaving here alive.”

Winda flew overhead and fired at Struct, weakening him. “Take this.”, she declared.

Proton then grabbed the fiend between both parts of his weapon. “This is for all the children you captured.” He threw him forward. Then Winda landed next to him. “Not bad, for a robot that wasn’t intended for combat, you’re quite a fierce warrior.”

“Believe me, I’ve defied all expectations.”, Winda saluted him.

“I’ve got some moves too.”, Slash said as he fired at Struct using his Morpher.

“Not bad.”, Proton said as he stepped forward, placing his sword back into the shield. “It’s time we finished this.” He pressed down on the trigger again. “Galaxy Saber!”

Slash and Winda put their Cosmo Spheres onto their weapons. “This is bad.”, Struct realised.

“Burning Caliber!”

“Cosmic Energy Strike!”

The two attacks his Struct straight on, destroying him. However, he revived thanks to a growth implant. “You’re all getting detention.” The nearby Dark Gear transformed into a Gearoid. “And I’ve brought a helper along.”

Proton then heard a beeping. “It’s fully charged.”, he said before holding his shield out and pressing the trigger. “Voyager, Unlock!” As he pulled the sword out, the Cosmo Sphere began spinning rapidly as the flying boat came into view. The boat fired missiles at the two opponents, sending them flying. “Transform! Fire Voyager!” The boat then separated into a satellite, a shuttle and a launch bay. “Say hello to the Fire Voyager!” Proton summoned a giant Cosmo Sphere around himself, that connected to the shuttle, which docked with the launch bay. “Take Off!” The shuttle launched from the moving bay, spreading its wings and flying into space, where it flew inside the satellite as Proton pressed the button and pulled his sword out. “Fire Voyager, Combination Sequence!” The sides of the satellite folded down and turned into arms, with the jets opening up into legs. The robot summoned a pair of swords to its hands as a faceplate opened. “I think I’ll call this… the Fire Voyager Megazord.”

Slash was surprised by this. “I don’t believe it. Did you know that boat was a Zord?”

“I had my theories, but wasn’t certain.”, came the answer from Winda.

Struct and the Gearoid recovered in time to see their opponent bearing down on them. “Prepare for a giant sized takedown.”, Proton declared as the Fire Voyager brandished its swords. Both opponents ran forward, only to be made quick work of, thanks to the twin swords and the jets on its feet.

“Protect me.”, Struct said to the Gearoid as he shoved it in front of him.

“That won’t save you.”, Proton stated as he pressed his trigger again. “Burning Transmission Strike!” The robot channelled the fire into its swords from it arms and sliced at the two villains.

However, Struct survived the attack. “I’m still going to punish you for that.”, he said as he a beam from his staff. However, the satellite portion detached from the Fire Voyager and reflected the beam back at him, before restraining him. “This isn’t fair.”

“You don’t deserve fair.”, Proton declared as he pointed his sword, causing the shuttle to crash into Struct. “Burning Crash!”

“Class dismissed.”, Struct declared as he exploded.

“Now that was hot.”, Proton stated as he returned the sword to its hilt.

It was at that point that Slash and Winda received a message on their communicators. “Where are you guys?”, Mila’s voice practically shouted. “We’re under attack from Gingaku and most of us are out of action.”

“We’d better find Barry.”, Winda suggested. “And free all the other children while we’re at it.”

* * *

**Providence Base, London**.

Mila, Tarrant and Scales were facing down the three that Dark Soul had brought with him. “You’re pretty strong.”, Mila said as she grappled with the female of the three. “Stronger than the average Gingaku goons.”

“Yeah.”, Tarrant huffed as he grappled with the one with the ball-and-chain arm. “Who are you guys?”

The third one, who was making short work of Scales, laughed. “I guess our reputation doesn’t proceed us, my fellow Victorious Generals. Let’s introduce ourselves. Centre Victorious General, Coiloga!”

“Right Victorious General, Tricerodo!”, the female announced herself.

The third and last remaining member went next. “Left Victorious General, Katseayor!”

“The three of us are second only to Gingaku himself in terms of strength.”, Coiloga declared. “You don’t stand a chance.” The three fired their beams at the Rangers, blowing them back.

Yuri watched all this from the side. “I have to get in there.”, she thought. “They need my help.”

But as she rant to help her friends, she was blocked by Dark Soul. “Don’t even think about it, Red Ranger. While your friends could be wiped out by the plague for all I care, your end will be at my hand.” He swung his sword at the woman, causing her to spin out of the way. “And don’t even think about trying to morph.”, he said as she pulled out her Cosmo Sphere. “The virus I infected your Cosmo Sphere with not just amplified its effect on all of you, but it also blocked off your ability to Morph.”

“It was you.”, Yuri realised. “You did this to us.”

“Yes, I infected your Virgin-51 Sphere with a virus back on the Oblivion Cosmos.”, Dark Soul declared as he kicked his opponent down and raised his sword. “And it’s finally allowed me to get my revenge on you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Dark Soul turned to his left, to see a woman that the Rangers recognised as Myron. She was now sporting glasses and had replaced her suit jacket with a lab coat. “I’ve been looking at your little virus and I think I’ve worked out the cure.”, she called out, as she pulled out a small gun like contraption. “Let’s just hope this works.” She fired at Yuri, causing her to be surrounded by blue smoke, which cleared quickly, showing Yuri had returned to his normal gender. “It works.”, Myron said incredulously.

“Thank goodness.”, Mila wheezed. “Now, Myra, can you get it to the others?” Myron was confused by the name, but she nodded and went to tend to the others.

Yuri then pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. “Now that I’m back to normal, then that means that I’m not stuck as a human.” He aligned his Sphere and morphed into the Red Ranger, summoning his Cosmo Saber. “Let’s dance, Dark Soul.”

“No, it can’t be.”, Dark Soul cried out as he found himself on the losing end of a sword battle. “I was supposed to emerge as the victor, not you.” As his sword was knocked out of his hand, he called out to the others. “We’re pulling out now. This plan is a failure.” He teleported out.

“Oh really, that’s a shame.”, Tricerodo pouted. “I was looking forward to playing with these Rangers more.” She teleported out as well.

“Pfft. I’ve seen all I need to see.”, Katseayor said as he prepared to teleport out. “And I’m not impressed.” He then vanished as well.

But Coiloga didn’t join them in retreating. Instead, he turned to Yuri. “Well then, Red Ranger. You could’ve just lost and made this easy on yourself. Instead, you made us have to do this the hard way.”

Yuri had a flash of recognition, dropping his sword and stating, with sudden realisation. “You were there.”

“Yes I was.”, Coiloga said as he raised his claw. However he was knocked back by a shot.

“If you want to take down Yuri, you go through us.” Coiloga turned to see the team of Proton, Slash, Winda and Barry standing to his left.

“And us.”, he turned again to see the now restored male Rangers standing there, accompanied by the three that had fought so hard for their friends.

“12 against 1. That’s not very fair, is it?”, Coiloga stated. “I’ll be going now, but I will return and raze this planet. Be assured of that.” With that, he teleported away.

“What happened while we were out?”, Slash asked.

“Don’t ask.”, Drago said. “Just know that I’ve got a surplus of brownies that’ll last us a few weeks.”

“They’re actually pretty good.”, Jiro attested.

“At least you’ve had some good memories.”, Cobras said with some resentment. “I’m not going to get over the fact I put makeup on.”

“And I’m not sure I can actually pull this look off.”, Yuri said about his new clothes.

“I don’t know, you make it look pretty good.”, Mila said playfully. She then turned to the impromptu away team. “What about you? Did you get up to much?”

“Oh not much, really.”, Proton stated. “We just found where the children of Earth had been taken, released them from captivity and took care of the last trace of Gingaku on Earth.”

“We also found out Gingaku’s true identity.”, Winda added, to everyone’s shock.

* * *

** Planetary Orbit. **

Katseayor was in conference with Gingaku, who had recalled the others back to him. “ _So, can I depend on you to defeat the Rangers and the Fire Knight?_ ”, the warlord asked.

“As I served you in our old battles, I serve you now.”, Katseayor stated. “And about my request?”

“ _I’ll have Cerebron see to it_.”, Gingaku nodded. “ _It will arrive at your location within two days_.”

“Good.”, Katseayor declared, as he shut off the communication. “Very soon now, the Rangers and the Fire Knight will be nothing more than a memory. I am nearly ready to take my revenge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very loosely based on episode 22 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The subplot with the boys becoming girls was inspired by an episode of Hero:108. And a separate one from Futurama.
> 
> The minor gag about Gingaku possibly being Dark Spectre should tell you my opinion of the recent Evox reveal. 
> 
> Struct is taken from “strict” and “instructor”.
> 
> And as promised, the origins of the names for the Three Victorious Generals. 
> 
> Katseayor - Katsuyori Takeda
> 
> Tricerodo - Yodo-hime
> 
> Coiloga - Yashiro Oga


	21. The Assault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Proton’s old rival Katseayor bombards the Rangers with a full attack, causing the former to start acting on his own.

**Gingaku Brainworld.**

Coiloga and Tricerodo were looking around Dr. Cerebron’s lab. “Nice place you’ve got here, Doc.”, the former noted. “If this is where our empire’s weapons all come from, then I’m assured of our continued subjugation.”

“If only those pesky Rangers weren’t a problem.”, Tricerodo said as she skipped around the lab. She came to a stop on a black-coloured gauntlet with a purple frame. “Now what’s this little beauty? It looks like the equipment the Rangers use to Morph.”

“That’s because I derived it from their Morphers and Cosmo Spheres.”, Cerebron informed her. “Lord Gingaku wants an army of Cosmo Sphere powered warriors. Thanks to the notes I’ve taken from studies made on the Yellow Ranger’s equipment, combined with the findings the Orange Ranger “provided” us with, I’ve begun to approach a prototype.”

“Speaking of the Rangers, I wonder what Katseayor requested you build for him.”, Coiloga said, changing the subject. “He made it seem like a game-changer.”

“Oh you’ll find out soon enough.”, Cerebron laughed. “And then the Fire Knight and the Rangers will be no more.”

* * *

** Earth Orbit. **

Katseayor was greeted by a modified Commanaga. This one resembled MechaHiver, but possessed a pink scarf instead of a yellow one and the helmet was black, with the three dots now a set of lenses. “Mechamera at your service, sir.”

Katseayor wasn’t impressed. “You don’t seem like the powerful fighter I requested.”, he noted. “And forgive me if I sound insensitive, but you modified Commanagas don’t have the best record.”

“Oh I’m not the delivery, I’m the deliverer.”, Mechamera clarified. “Like you said, we’re considered second rate by most of Gingaku. I’m being forced to travel the universe and record interesting incidents for people’s entertainment.”

Katseayor had an idea. “Is that so? Then I can not only assure you a good show, but you’ll get a chance to go out in the battlefield once more.” He turned around, but continued talking. “After all, the more forces I have at my disposal, the weaker the Fire Knight will be.”

* * *

** Providence Base. **

Winda had gathered everyone except Proton in the meeting room, so that she could share the latter’s backstory. “It would be best if you didn’t share this with Mr. Jennings.”, she said. “He seemed very determined to keep it a secret.”

“I knew I had seen him somewhere before.”, the Commander pondered. “He was all over the local news when I was a kid. Kyle Jennings came from Newinthal like me and my brother. He was big talk in the military.”

“And in the astronaut training program.”, Yuri added. “The guy was my inspiration and now he’s on the same side as us, fighting the same enemies.”

“It’s strange how you only remember whatever you need during random moments.”, Slash commented.

“Who remembers what?”, Proton asked as he came in. “Is this a private event, or can anyone join in?”

“No, no come in.”, Drago said, as everyone did nervous “we’re not hiding anything” hand gestures. “We were just discussing… these three new enemies that attacked the base with Dark Soul.”

“Exactly.”, Mila improvised. “If only we knew more about them.”

“Oh that’s easy, I know quite a bit about them.”, Proton replied, as he went up to the table and brought up footage of the three. “Those guys are Gingaku’s personal minions, from my old conflict with him long ago. All three prefer different tacts. For instance, Katseayor here prefers to just attack in force, while the enemy’s guard is down.”

As he said this, a nearby sensor went off. Myron went over to the terminal and inspected it. “Well let’s just see how forceful this Katseayor guy really is.”, he commented. “Because his ship is descending towards London right now.”

* * *

**London, England.**

Katseayor and Mechamera walked through the streets, scaring off people as they approached. “These humans are wise to flee.”, Mechamera noted. “For once we defeat the Rangers on a galactic broadcast, we’re going to take this planet back for Gingaku.”

“Stow your enthusiasm, Mechamera.”, Katseayor stated. “The Rangers’ stolen Control Gear is right over there.” But as he pointed, he realised that the area he was trying to indicate had been replaced with a crater, which was now being filled in by a construction crew. “No, where did they go?”, he fumed.

* * *

**Providence Base.**

“Katseayor’s almost at the site of our base… or would be if we hadn’t moved it to Corona City after the last attack.”, Myron noted, as everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re lucky he didn’t figure out we’d do something like this.”

“Or that we’d pick the first city we liberated to flee to.”, Barry added.

“I’d hate to break the bad news to you, but this bears mentioning.”, Pamela interjected. She then brought up a newsfeed, showing Katseayor and Mechamera launching their attacks on innocent people. “They’re not turning away because we weren’t there. If anything, they’re turning on the people.”

“We have to get there.”, Jiro urged. He ran over to Drago. “Come on, let’s spin that wheel of yours. Who’s stayin’ behind this time?”

“We don’t need to have anyone stay behind.”, Scales informed him. “Thanks to the security systems in this structure, all of us can leave the people here behind without having to worry about their safety.”

“Well, that sounds alright.”, Commander Goodman said. “Well, get going then.”

The Rangers all nodded and set out. “Good luck, everyone.”, Pamela said.

* * *

** London, England. **

As Katseayor and Mechamera continued their rampage, the latter began narrating. “This is your reporter Mechamera reporting live from a prominent captital on Earth, where I am on a rampage with Right General Katseayor, Lord Gingaku’s recently returned-from-exile elite bodyguard. In the absence of the Power Rangers, we have decided to turn our anger onto these people, who were foolish enough to believe they were safe from our oppression.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Coiloga, Tricerodo and Cerebron watched the scene play out on their receiver. “This is what my modified Commanagas were made for, not something as meaningless as television reporting.”, Cerebron said, laughing.

“Yes, but it’s a shame those Rangers weren’t there to lose to dear Mechamera.”, Tricerodo lamented.

“I’m not surprised.”, Coiloga commented. “I didn’t expect those Rangers to stay in the area after we attacked them. They were smart to leave the area altogether.”

* * *

Mechamera’s report continued, “Ladies and gentle-creatures, we have a not-so-surprise development. Some of the Rangers have shown up to face us, including their newest member, the mysterious Fire Knight.”

“I see you’re still not above dirty tactics.”, Proton declared as he pointed at Katseayor. “Leave these people alone, it’s me you’re after, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Fire Knight.”, Katseayor fumed. “I still haven’t forgotten what you did to me back then. For decades, I have waited, prepared to take my revenge. And now you show up, right where I can finally destroy you.”

The other 5 Rangers that had arrived with Proton, Yuri, Jiro, Slash, Mila and Winda, all reacted to this. “I assume you have a history with this guy?”, Yuri asked.

Proton nodded. “There’s a reason he’s sporting that fetching ball and chain instead of his left hand.”

“Hey, where’d the others go?”, Jiro asked. “Didn’t we all set off at the same time?”

“They appear to have landed in a nearby area.”, Winda answered. “Known locally as ‘Lewisham’.”

Katseayor laughed at this. “Why thank you. Now my project can make short work of the rest of them.” He then turned to Proton. “And you, Fire Knight. Working with the Rangers. Is your camaraderie so fickle?” This caused Proton to get a look of shock on his face, as an image of a birdman appeared in his mind’s eye.

* * *

** Lewisham, England. **

“Okay, so I may have been slightly off with the coordinates.”, Drago said sheepishly.

“‘Slightly’?”, Myron repeated incredulously. “There’s no evidence that Katseayor even walked through here, let alone attacked it.”

As if on cue, the ground began to shake. “Um, what was that?”, Scales asked.

“I’ve felt something like this before.”, Tarrant said with a sense of dread. “But it can’t be.”

As if on cue, a familiar shape emerged from the ground, growling at the Rangers. “It’s a Terrorvore, like the one from before.”, Barry exclaimed.

“Actually, this one’s skin is made of some kind of alloy.”, Cobras pointed out. “It’s a robot.”

“A robot Terrorvore, eh?”, Scales noted. He then clicked his fingers. “I've got it. A Robovore.”

“Never mind what to call it.”, Myron said as he jumped out of the way of the Robovore’s charge. “We need to work on surviving it and reuniting with the others.”

“Well then, what’re we waiting for?”, Drago asked as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere. “Gentlemen, it’s Morphing Time!”

Everyone nodded, before doing likewise. All inserted their Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Everyone initiated their Morph sequence. After its completion, they struck a battle pose, before charging towards the Robovore, weapons out.

* * *

Back in the city square, the other 6 Rangers were still standing off with Katseayor and Mechamera. “Alright guys, we’ll fight them on my call.”, Yuri indicated. “One, two….” But before he could get to three, Proton took off running towards the enemy. “What the heck, man?”

“I don’t take orders from you.”, Proton said as he began grappling with Mechamera. “Or anyone.” He summoned his Galaxy Saber and inserted his Cosmo Sphere into it. “Rise! Change!” He pulled out the sword, transforming into the Fire Knight, before continuing the fight.

Yuri sighed. “Ok then, we’ll have to try and salvage an attack plan without Proton. Are you guys ready?” Everyone nodded in agreement. “Then it’s Morphing Time!” Everyone pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and summoned their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” Everyone was instantly morphed, and all went in for the attack.

Katseayor threw his ball and chain at them, which the Rangers narrowly dodged, before launching their attacks at his chest. “Pfft, I’ve had flu worse than this.”, the General bragged. As Winda launched her attack, Katseayor looked up at her in the air. “Keeping your distance won’t help you, fool.” He threw his weapon at her position, catching her in his chain. “Oh you’ll make a good starting point to my collection.”

“Leave her alone.”, Yuri called out as he brought his Cosmo Saber down on the chain. While it wasn’t enough to cut through the chain, it was enough to slack them off enough for Winda to break free.

“Thanks, Yuri.”, she said. “Now I can keep on the attack.” She fired her Cosmo Blaster at the nearby Mechamera, knocking him back as he was fighting Proton.

“I was handling that.”, Proton yelled at her in an annoyed tone.

“You could try saying ‘thank you’ when we save your ungrateful hide.”, Mila shouted back at him.

But Proton ignored her, instead going over to Mechamera. “Now then, I noticed the recording device embedded in your helmet.”, he said. “What’s its range?” He pointed his sword at the enemy to emphasise his point.

“We’re going out throughout the universe.”, Mechamera blurted out nervously. “Even Lord Gingaku himself could see us.”

“Then in that case, I’ve got a good scoop for you.” Proton pulled the modified Commanaga towards him, speaking directly into the lens. “Peoples of the universe, please attend carefully. Don’t try adjusting your set, because what I’m about to say needs to be said.”

* * *

** Planet Psyga-6. **

The people stopped in their work to view the mammal who had appeared on their screens. “ _Gingaku may think they hold absolute, unremovable power. But they’re wrong. Because I’m standing on the one planet that dared to say ‘no’. And you can say it too. You just have to stand up and overthrow your oppressors.”_

“Ay, he speaks the truth.”, one of the workers declared. “We are free men, not slaves.”

“Down with the Gingaku Clan.” The workers all stood up and proceeded to attack the Detainers.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

In his chamber, Gingaku and Dark Soul watched as Proton’s message continued. “ _And ‘Lord Gingaku’, if you think you safe and snug, wherever you’re hiding, then you’re wrong. Because I’m coming for you. And this time, there won’t be enough of you left to put on my toast.”_

Gingaku fumed as he saw this. “That insolent… destroy him!”

“Even better, you can do it yourself.”, Dark Soul indicated a remote control. “You can override Mechamera’s CPU and take control of his body.”

“Good.”, Gingaku wheezed. “I’ll do it.”

* * *

Back on Earth, Mechamera’s eyes glowed red and he knocked Proton back. “ ** _You insolent whelp. Your broadcast has been cancelled.”_**

“I know that voice.”, Proton realised. “So instead of facing me yourself, you’ve taken over your poor underling. How very in-character, Gingaku.”

The other Rangers stopped fighting Katseayor, taking in this fact. “Can he do that?”, Mila asked.

“Apparently he can.”, Winda responded.

“ ** _Enough stalling._** ”, the Gingaku-possessed Mechamera declared as he summoned a regular Commanaga’s weapon, firing on the Rangers and knocking them back. “ ** _Now Katseayor, trigger this body’s growth implant.”_**

“As you command.”, Katseayor threw his ball at the growth implant, damaging it and causing Mechamera to enlarge. “And I’ll spice things up by adding in a a Gearoid.” A Dark Gear teleported in and transformed. “Finally, I’ll bring in my creation.”

* * *

In Lewisham, the Robovore stopped beating up Cobras and began burrowing underground. “We need to follow and neutralise that thing.”, Cobras wheezed as he got back up.”

“Good idea.”, Drago said as he pulled out his staff. “Summon Zords.”

The six summoned their respective Zords and flew off.

* * *

In London, the giant Robovore emerged from the ground. “Is that a robot Terrorvore?”, Jiro asked.

“Looks like it.”, Slash pointed out. “That means we have three opponents to take out.”

“Correction, two opponents.”, Proton stated. “That Commanaga is mine.” He inserted his sword into his shield, holding the trigger. “Voyager, Take Off!”

“Summon Zords!”, the rest of the Rangers announced as they pushed their Cosmo Spheres to the right.

Proton’s shuttle and satellite linked up. “Fire Voyager Megazord, ready!”

“Don’t leave us out of this.”, Drago called out as the other 6 Zords showed up. As they did so, a light emerged from the twelve Zords, plus a thirteenth light being shot out from a distant planet towards Earth.

Something appeared on the ground. “I’ll check that out.”, Myron insisted. “Tarrant, Scales, with me.”

The rest of the Zords continued their combination. The Lion Zord combined with Yellow as the right arm, Pink as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Blue as the left leg. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

The Dragon Zord combined with the Bear Zord as the right arm and the Serpent Zord as the left arm. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s show this guy what we can do.”, Yuri declared.

“Especially in a full three on three.”, Drago added.

The three Megazords stood side-by-side, facing their opponents. “Now this is a fair fight.”, Proton noted as he registered the other two. “I think we’ll change our plans up.”

The Fire Voyager faced down the Robovore, the Dragon Star grappled with the Gearoid and the Cosmo Megazord faced down Mechamera. “Let’s show Proton what real teamwork is.”, Drago said as his Megazord and Yuri’s punched the Gearoid at the same time. The two then initiated their finishers. “Cosmic Dragon Double Blast!”

The two attacks hit Mechamera, engulfing him in frames. “ ** _This is only the beginning._** ”, Gingaku’s voice threatened. “ ** _I’ll be back.”_** And then the body was destroyed.

The Gearoid turned back into a Dark Gear, it’s AI choosing to retreat rather than face destruction. “That’s not going to happen.”, Winda declared. The Eagle arm detached as the Serpent took its place. The Eagle Zord then transformed and clamped onto the back. “Cosmo Megazord Winger Formation, ready!” The Megazord then flew up into the air, delivering a slash to the Dark Gear that destroyed it.

“This Space is ours, Winda.”, Slash said.

“Thank you, Slash.”, Winda saluted.

Down on the ground, Proton took note of this while wrestling with the Robovore. “I can’t let myself look sloppy.”, he said as he pushed his opponent back. He then delivered several slashes of his swords to the automaton. But it reflected most of the damage. “This is a tough one.”, he thought “But it’s nothing I can’t handle.” The Fire Satellite detached from the combination and began spinning, using the force to cut off the Robovore’s heads and arms, before recombining. Now the Fire Voyager could damage its opponent. “Let’s end this.”, Proton stated as he pulled his sword out of his shield. “Burning End!” He delivered twin slashes to the Robovore, finishing it for good. “Now that was hot.”, he commented.

Katseayor watched as the three robots stood triumphant. “This was merely phase one of the real plan.”, he commented. “My real secret weapon has arrived currently.”

* * *

**Gingaku Brainworld.**

The scene that had played out had been witnessed in Cerebron’s lab as well. “Another of my creations wasted.”, Cerebron lamented. “And by Lord Gingaku himself, of all people.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call it ‘wasted’”, Tricerodo assured him. “In fact, you’ve made me want my own modified Commanaga. But you’ll have to assure me that you can meet my specifications.”

As Cerebron took an interest in this, Coiloga observed a report from his construction sight. “So, there was a strange light emerging from my project. A lot like the light that appeared on Earth when the Rangers’ Zords were all assembled. Very interesting.”

* * *

** London, Earth. **

Myron and his team found the item they were looking for. “It’s a Cosmo Sphere.”, he realised. As he picked it up, he took notice of the symbol on it. It was the symbols of all twelve individual Rangers, plus a thirteenth symbol. “What could this mean?”, he asked the other two.”

“Search me.”, Scales answered as he did a confused gesture with his hands. Then everyone reacted as they heard a noise. “Who’s there?”

“Yeah, come out and show yourself.”, Tarrant demanded. But the presence instead let out long, prehensile hair that grabbed Tarrant and pulled him towards it effortlessly. “Ah, help me!”, he called out. But the others were helpless as he was consumed by the presence.

Myron decided to charge towards the presence, but he too was grabbed by it. “Scales, get out of here, warn the others.”, he urged as the creature swallowed him as well. Scales didn’t honk twice about retreating, as the creature began laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 23 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> I wanted to keep the villains in the story, but since there was no reason for them to come to Earth, I decided to relegate them to a Greek chorus.
> 
> Gingaku hijacking control of Mechamera is an idea I want to explore more in AVX. That is, if I ever get round to continuing it.


	22. The Proton Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Katseayor’s newest minion Goatron begins capturing the Rangers in his mouth, Yuri and Drago must try and make Proton work with them.

** Earth Orbit, Katseayor’s Ship. **

Katseayor was greeted by another alien. This one had green skin, with red claws and spikes, sporting long hair and wielding a bident (a trident with two prongs). “I hope you’ve made progress, or I would’ve left you in that prison.”, Katseayor told him.

“Relax your head, man.”, the alien responded. “I managed to get two of the Power Rangers captured in my belly. I would’ve gotten a third, but he escaped while I was taking the orange guy.”

“Two is definitely a good start to your mission.”, Katseayor nodded. “And one of them is the Orange Ranger, on top of that. Who is the other?”

“I think it was the black one.”, the alien answered, opening up his mouth to show the insides. Sure enough, Myron and Tarrant were standing around in a pool of liquid. “I i’n’t i’e’t em a’ ou e’es’ed.”

* * *

“Hey, let us out out of here.”, Tarrant called out. “Wherever here is. It’s really cold.”

“We’re inside someone’s stomach.”, Myron pointed out. “The fact we haven’t been subjected to worse than being swallowed tells me that he has something worse in store for the whole Ranger team. And that includes Proton.”

* * *

“Oh you have no idea.”, Katseayor said as he listened to their conversation. The miniaturisation process had made it so they couldn’t hear his voice, because of the different frequency pitches. “Now then, prepare to locate and capture the others, Goatron.”

The alien, Goatron, nodded as he closed his mouth. “It will be done, Lord Katseayor.” He saluted and then teleported out.

* * *

** Providence Base. **

Yuri was pacing up and down the main control room. “He’s been doing that for hours.”, Jiro noted. “How is he not tired?”

“It’s probably the other entity within him.”, Cobras suggested. “It is giving him the energy to keep up his continuous walking.”

“It’s called ‘pacing’”, Mila pointed out. “And we all want to know why.”

“Myron’s group hasn’t come back from their mission yet.”, Yuri answered. “And with Proton still being a rogue element at this time, we can’t really afford to lose anyone.”

“I agree.”, Drago nodded. “Whatever that light resulted in should’ve been a simple search-and-retrieve mission. Myron, Tarrant and Scales should be back here by now.”

As if on cue, Scales came bursting through the door. “Monster… eaten… Myron and Tarrant…”, he managed to splutter out.

“Take it easy.”, Winda urged him, grabbing a hold of his chest and uprighting him. “Now then. Compute calmly and logically. What happened to the others?”

“We were attacked.”, Scales answered. “Just as we’d found the source of the light, a new Cosmo Sphere, something in the shadows attacked us. It grabbed Tarrant and swallowed him whole before we could figure out what it was. Then Myron urged me to get away as it got him too. I barely made it back here.”

“Sounds like Gingaku’s unleashed a new warrior to fight us.”, Slash suggested.

“Which means we need to all get out there and take him out to free Myron and Tarrant.”, Barry added.

“Yeah, so let’s mobilise everyone we have, even Proton.”, Scales suggested. Then he looked around the room and found there was one absence. “Where is Proton by the way?”

“He walked out earlier.”, Commander Goodman answered. “Said he ‘didn’t need anyone else dragging him down’.”

Yuri sighed. “Of all the times for him to leave… I’m going to find him. You guys try and find this new enemy.” With that said, he ran out of the room.

Everyone was silent for a second. “Well, you heard him.”, Drago said to break the silence. Let’s find this new threat and take them down.”

“That doesn’t sound easy.”, Jiro pointed out. “We don’t even know what this guy looks like. How do we find him?”

“The answer to that is simple.”, Winda answered. “We don’t find him, he finds us.”

* * *

** Newinthal. **

Proton was sitting outside of a mini-mall, drinking a soda from a fast-food place. “This place sure has changed since I was last here.”, he noted as he sucked juice from his straw. “This place used to be a cafe with very good coffee.”

An old man tutted and sat down with him. “The cafe that was here was smashed up 35 years ago.”, the man said. “You don’t look old enough to have been around back then.”

“I have my means of looking younger.”, Proton responded. “Whenever I was down, I used to come to the cafe so I could think. And lately, I’ve been feeling really down.”

“Oh really?” Proton and the old man turned around to see Yuri standing there. “I guess the old saying is true in your case. You can’t really go home again once you leave, Kyle.” He could see the shock on the Fire Knight’s face. “Winda explained the story you told her and Slash in Russia to us. I know everything about your story.”

Proton sighed as he saw Yuri, especially since he realised that he now had no reason to keep his motives to himself. “Well, you might as well join me. You are part of my problems, so I should explain things to you.”

“So it’s really none of my business.”, the old man commented as he stood up. “I’ll leave you two to talk things out” with that, he was gone.

Yuri then looked at the menu nearby. “Well if you’re going to tell me your story, should I place an order?”

“No, it won’t take very long.”, Proton said. “Like you probably found out, my real name is Kyle Jennings and I originally was an astronaut from Earth who encountered Gingaku and found a Cosmo Sphere, a lot like you, Yuri. But what I didn’t tell you is how I left the planet and came to be known as ‘Proton’. As I’d managed to give my attackers the slip, I made my way back to the shuttle I had taken off in, intending to use it to return to Earth. But when I got there, I found a scavenger trying to dismantle it. He was a birdman, wearing a green cloak. When I spoke with him, he told me his name was Corvin and he was looking for a purpose as he travelled the stars, taking parts he needed for his ship from others. He gave me the name “Proton”, having seen it on the engines of my shuttle and mistaken it for my, as he put it, ‘designation’. Before I could clean up the misunderstanding, the Cosmo Sphere I had found bathed my shuttle in energy, turning it into what you know as the Fire Voyager and creating the Fire Satelite and Mega Base as support. Corvin was impressed with this and offered to tag along with me.”

“And I assume that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”, Yuri asked.

“You assume correctly.”, Proton nodded. “We shared our stories of our respective homes - he came from a place called the Crow Nebula, or something. We also worked together on modifying the Galaxy Saber so I could use it to switch my transformation on and off, as it were. We also collected Cosmo Spheres and fought against Orbis and his gang for a while. But then, we had our final battle.

* * *

**_Unknown Planet, the Edge of Space. 40 years ago._ **

_I woke up in a cavern where I saw Corvin arranging our Cosmo Spheres on an altair. “What happened?”, I asked, struggling for breath. “Did we win?”_

_“We won.”, Corvin assured me. “Orbis has been put paid to. But he was only a small fry. His organisation is going to attack and conquer the universe, at least that’s what the old legends say.”_

_“Then we’re making preparations to fight them off?”, I wheezed._

_“Kind of.”, Corvin answered. “The prophecy said that eleven would rise up to face the threat, but a twelfth and final chosen one would be required to achieve total victory. Since you likely don’t have the lifespan to wait until Gingaku launches their assault, I’m placing you in a form of stasis that only another with a Cosmo Sphere can reverse. I’m also going to be programming the Fire Voyager with the coordinates for this planet, uncharted and on the edge of known space, to lead them here.”_

_“It’ll be a bit of a pain to hide that huge shuttle, plus you’re going to have to tell someone about it’s whereabouts.”, I pointed out. And someone is going to figure it out.”_

_“Already taken care of. I’ve transformed the Fire Voyager into a regular space ship, stored within a new Cosmo Sphere that I’ve broken down to store as energy between three existing blank Cosmo Spheres. I’ve planned on hiding places for two of them, hiding maps to them in two others of the three. I’m then going to hide the third and tell someone I trust of its location. Nothing can possibly go wrong.”_

_“Well then, I guess this is goodbye.”, I said as the stasis began to take hold._

_“No, we’ll see each other again someday. But for now, I’m going to say ‘farewell’. And with that, the stasis fully took hold, and I knew nothing until your friends found and released me._

* * *

“I think I recognise a guy matching Corvin’s description.”, Yuri realised. “He appeared to me when I looked at the third of the three Cosmo Spheres we used to find you. But we didn’t find the Sphere he didn’t leave a map to. Rather, it came to us in the mouth of a Terrorvore, which is kind of like an organic version of that robot worm you fought recently.”

“That’s not reassuring.”, Proton noted. “After I woke up, I mostly let Corvin slip my mind for the time I was awake for the first time in decades. But then Katseayor reminded me of him in our last battle, and I realised I’d ignored him, possibly allowing Gingaku to capture him and do who-only-knows-what to him. And that was clouding my judgement as I fought in that battle. Like you said, he was alive long enough to hide two of the Spheres in his intended location, but I don’t know about where he could be now.”

“I know the feeling.”, Yuri nodded. “I’m still no closer to finding out about my friend Gregory’s whereabouts than when I started searching for him.”

“Then how about you find out?” Proton and Yuri turned around to see Katseayor, accompanied by a group of Detainers. “I’ll capture you both and put you where you can see your friends extensively.”

“Not a chance, moustache.”, Yuri declared. “We’re going to choose to fight you off, along with your goon squad.” He began fighting off the Detainers with hand to hand moves.

Proton smiled at this. “I like this guy. He reminds me a lot of me.”, he said to Katseayor as he joined the fight.

* * *

** Elsewhere on Earth. **

Drago and the other remaining Rangers had morphed and were standing around looking. “Are you really so sure that this guy will show up if he knows we’re standing around?”, Mila asked.

“It’s the best method we can think of.”, Winda radioed from the air. “And I’m keeping an eye out so I can pinpoint his exact position when he gets one of you.”

“How very reassuring.”, Cobras said dryly. As if on cue, the tendrils appeared from the shadows and grabbed onto him, dragging him towards them. “Help, I’m under attack.”

“Hang on buddy, I’ll save you.”, Scales called out as he grabbed onto Cobras’ legs, trying to pull him back. While he did succeed in revealing their attacker, Goatron merely used the momentum to devour both the Gold and Silver Rangers.

“Aw man, I was doing so good as a hidden threat.”, Goatron bemoaned. “Now y’all can see my face.”

Drago took one look at Goatron and had a moment of recognition. “I know that guy. You were in the cell with me on Matoine.”

“Yes, I also recognise his face from that prison.”, Winda noted, scanning her databanks. “According to the prison files, prisoner Goatron was locked away for 20 years for eating the Vegan Ambassador 3 years ago.”

“Yeah, let’s just say that I’m also an important member of Gingaku.”, Goatron said, as if someone had asked “how did you get out of jail?”. “My boss had me released to deal with you Rangers. He wanted me to devour all of you and I intend to finish that job.” He reached out his tendrils again, grabbing Jiro, Winda and Barry, pulling them into his mouth.

Mila and Slash ran up to Goatron, locking their weapons with his. “Drago, get out of here.”, Slash urged.

“I can’t just leave you to him.”, Drago insisted.

“Yes you can.”, Mila responded. “Find Yuri and Proton. They’re the only ones other than you that can defeat him. Don’t argue with us. Go.”

Drago thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright.” He summoned his Dragon Zord and flew off, while Goatron devoured the last two Rangers, laughing as he did so.

* * *

** Inside Goatron’s Stomach. **

Tarrant noticed Jiro, Winda and Barry joining the 4 that were already there. “It seems like the others got captured too.”

“Not all of us.”, Barry pointed out. “Drago, Mila and Slash are…” Mila and Slash came down as well. “Okay, just Drago is still out there.”

Myron wasn’t reassured. “I doubt that he can make much of a difference by himself.”

“Which is why we told him what to do.”, Slash pointed out. “He’s going to find Yuri and Proton to get their help.”

“Not a particularly reassuring thought.”, Winda commented.

* * *

** Newinthal, USA. **

Elsewhere, Yuri and Proton had made short work of the Detainers. “Give it up, Katseayor.”, Yuri declared. “You can’t beat us with these guys.”

“I’m not trying to defeat you with those.”, Katseayor laughed. “I’ve just been distracting you so that my servant can devour your friends.”

“What?”, Proton exclaimed. Katseayor threw his ball at the open opponent, but Yuri retaliated using the Defend-21 Cosmo Sphere. “By this point, only you two should be left.”

“You’d be wrong to think that.” Drago leapt down, firing at Katseayor with his Dragon Staff in rifle mode. “Bad news. That servant of his got the others. And all I could do was get away to find you.”

“And you didn’t do much to hide.”, Goatron declared as he jumped down. “I’ve got 9 of those Power Rangers captured and ready for transport to Lord Gingaku.”, he said to Katseayor.

“Then all you have to do is get these three.”, Katseayor pointed.

“Gentlemen, let’s put paid to these two.”, Proton declared. “Galaxy Saber!” His Morpher appeared in his hand.

“It’s Morphing Time!”, Yuri and Drago declared, the former summoning his Cosmo Morpher. The three then prepped their Cosmo Spheres and inserted them into their respective Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Charge Up!”

“Rise! Change!”

The three were then morphed into the Red Ranger, the Dragon Ranger and the Fire Knight. “That won’t save you from sharing your friends’ fate.”, Katseayor declared as he and Goatron fired at the three.

“Defend-24, activate!”, Yuri declared, inserting the Cosmo Sphere into his Morpher and using it to protect them. “Cosmo Saber!” He released an energy wave which hit Goatron, knocking him back.

“Why you.”, Katseayor declared.

“Nice job, Yuri. I’ll take it from here.”, Proton stated as he leapt in front of his ally.

“Hey, what happened to working together?”, Yuri asked as he put his elbow on Proton’s shoulder.

“Sorry, force of habit.”, Proton answered as Katseayor fired at them. “Nice try, fish face.”, he declared as he blocked the shot with his shield and fired a shot from the bottom of the shield.

“Let’s do it together this time.”, Yuri said as the two ran forward, delivering slashes to their enemy.

“Let me in on the fun.”, Drago said as he ran forward and began grappling with Katseayor. “You guys take Goatron.”

“You’re not gonna do it easier than Ol’ Drago says it.”, Goatron declared, tapping his chest, before firing a shot from his bident.

However, the two shrugged off the hit. “Yuri, we’re going to take this slime down and free the captives within his chest. Let’s go.” The two ran forward and began delivering simultaneous slashes, that were blocked by Goatron’s bident. Eventually, the two scored a hit to their opponent by hitting him in the chest at the same time.

“Time to power up.”, Yuri said, inserting the Dual Sphere’s “Moon” end into his Morpher. “Hyper Plus Up!” He transformed into the Lunar Red Ranger, successfully blocking and evading all the hits Goatron tried to make, while getting in his own, more powerful ones. He then pressed the top of the Dual Sphere. “Eclipse Attack!” He fired his shot at Goatron, knocking him down. Then he reverted to his normal form. “Now let’s finish this.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”, Proton stated, placing his Galaxy Saber back in the shield. “Galaxy Saber, Charge!”

“Lion-01, set!”, Yuri inserted his Cosmo Sphere onto his Cosmo Saber. Proton pulled his weapon out and the two performed their combined attack. “Cosmic…”

“…Burning…”

“…Impact!” The two ran forward, slashing at Goatron one more time, destroying him.

“Now I know how that ambassador felt.”, Goatron stated as he exploded, releasing his prisoners.

“Thank goodness we got out of there.”, Jiro commented. “The smell was becoming unbearable.”

“Don’t you lick yourself regularly?”, Slash asked him.

Mila took note of their saviours “I’m more surprised that those two worked together.”

“Turns out, we have a lot more in common than you think.”, Yuri said, as he held his hand out.

“Us astronauts have to stick together.”, Proton said as he reciprocated the high-five.

Katseayor stopped his fight to pay attention to the scene. “I won’t allow this to be the end. Goatron, get back in the fight.”

Goatron’s growth implant exploded, reviving Goatron as a giant. “I’ve got a giant sized appetite now.”, he declared.

Before anyone could react properly, Myron ran forward. “We picked this up just before he caught us.”, he said, giving Yuri the Cosmo Sphere he had picked up. “I think it’ll allow you to control all the Zords at once.”

“We’ll worry about that later.”, Proton said as he summoned the Fire Voyager. “Voyager, Take Off!” The Shuttle appeared and blasted off. “Voyager, fire!” He shot his lasers at Goatron, knocking him back.

“I won’t let you win again.”, Katseayor declared, knocking Drago aside and growing to giant size as well. “Take this.”, he said, throwing his ball at the Voyager, which went down.

“Let’s try this thing out.”, Yuri said as he activated the new Cosmo Sphere. “Summon Zords!” In addition to his Lion Zord, which quickly flew to match the Fire Voyager, they found themselves surrounded by the other 10 Cosmo Spheres.

“Looks like its time to bring our strengths together.”, Proton said. “All Zords, Combine!”

The Fire Voyager broke apart, with the thrusters splitting in two and connecting as arms to the Lion Zord in Megazord mode, with the top half and the Fire Satellite becoming a backpack and chest piece. Then the Fire Base became legs, with the Yellow, Green, Black and Blue Spheres assuming their limbs’ usual position. Then the other 6 Spheres attached to the extended arms, shoulders and legs. Gold and Silver went to the right and left legs, Pink and Orange went to the right and left arms while the Dragon and Sky Spheres became the right and left shoulders. The Lion head vanished, with a new, star shaped head replacing it, which the Firebird Sphere landed on, revealing a face. “Zodiac Megazord, ready!”

“That’s amazing.”, Mila exclaimed. “Did you know the 12 Zords had this power, Myron?”

“I can’t say I did.”, Myron answered. “But in all honesty, I can’t wait to get in that robot.” He said that last part with a smile, which surprised everyone.

“Yuri, you drive, I’ll shoot.”, Proton stated.

“I’ve got it.”, Yuri replied as he moved the Megazord forward.

“That won’t save you.”, Katseayor declared as he and Goatron fired on the Zodiac Megazord, which shrugged off the damage, before beating the two back with its arms alone. Eventually, it knocked its opponents into each other.

“Time we finished this.”, Yuri said.

“Right you are.”, Proton said, preparing his weapon.

“Twelve Star Supernova!”

“Protect me you fool.”, Katseayor yelled, pushing Goatron forward. The Megazord fired beams from its arms, which hit Goatron while missing Katseayor entirely.

“Not cool man.”, Goatron said as he fell over, while Katseayor teleported away, leaving behind one last message.

“You haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll be back.”

“This Space is ours.”, the two Rangers declared as their new Megazord stood tall.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Katseayor stumbled through a hallway, to be met by Coiloga. “Gingaku isn’t happy about what you did to your own man.”, Coiloga said. “Or that you allowed the Rangers to get that new power.”

“Silence!”, Katseayor growled. “I have my reputation as a strong warrior to uphold.”

“Not for much longer.”, Coiloga laughed. “You’ve failed to defeat the Rangers with 3 warriors and a Gearoid so far and its only been a day since you were put on the job. If you don’t succeed in your next mission, you won’t be allowed to come back here at all.”

“I won’t let that happen.”, Katseayor declared. “The next time I face the Rangers, I will win. And I know the perfect planet to locate the final showdown.”

* * *

** Providence Base. **

In a private lab, something began to form on the table, as a nearby figure, who had been unconscious for days, began to stir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 24 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> In retrospect, I wish I’d given Goatron a better name, since Gyabler doesn’t look much like a goat. But, I’m sticking with it for the current edit. 
> 
> Making Goatron the cellmate from chapter 3 came about when I remembered my promise to bring him back. That also got some help when I didn’t have any description provided for said cellmate.


	23. Time Out of Joint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katseayor summons the Rangers to the planet Tempus, where the laws of time do not apply.

**Planet Earth, Orion-Cygnus Arm.**

The Rangers were returning to Providence Base, discussing their latest battle. “Who’d have thought that my old prison pal would end up working for Gingaku?”, Drago asked.

“Practically none of us.”, Myron answered him. “Almost none of us even knew you had a cellmate. You never talk about your time in prison.”

“Maybe we should take an interest in what he has to say.”, Tarrant suggested. “I mean, we don’t know how long he’s going to be around for.”

“Tarrant, don’t be so bleak.”, Mila responded to this. “I’m sure Drago will be around as long as you.”

Before anyone could continue this conversation, Yuri spoke up. “Guys, I found this in Myron’s lab.” He held up a circular object made of stone, in a frame also made of stone, with an oval on top and a diagonal ring around the side, decorated with circles of different sizes, along with three lines engraved into the ring. “Do any of you have any idea what it is?”

Winda received the item and began analysing it. “My carbon dating system dates it to a few hours ago, specifically, the moment you first combined the twelve Cosmo Spheres into one Megazord.”

“So our combined powers once more brought out something new.”, Proton stated. “But we don’t know what this is. We’d better keep it for analysis.”

As everyone nodded at this, Pamela ran into the room. “Rangers, there’s something you should see in the control room.” Yuri put the stone down as everyone ran out of the room.

* * *

The Rangers soon made their way to the control room, where Commander Goodman was waiting for them. “Alright, Commander. We’re all here.”, Proton said. “What’s the emergency?”

“It’s easier to show you.”, the Commander said as she pressed a button, playing a recording of Katseayor.

“ _Fire Knight. For too long have you been a thorn in my side. But now, I intend to end our age-old conflict. Meet me on the planet Tempus after two solar cycles, or as you would call them ‘days’ have passed. And another thing. I don’t want to see anything other than your Fire Voyager touch down on the planet. Come alone, or else your allies will regret it._ ” The message then terminated.

Most of the other Rangers were confused by the message. “Is there any significance behind planet Tempus we should know about?”, Barry asked.

“Only that it’s one of the weirdest planets in the cosmos.”, Scales answered him. “The flow of time does not work in any logical order there. You could either meet someone from your past, or find yourself revisiting a past you were lucky to never visit in the first place.”

“It’s obviously a feint.”, Slash stated. “If he doesn’t kill Proton, Katseayor can easily claim it and not require proof.”

Cobras opened his mouth to say something. “But how are we supposed to prevent his plan?”, Jiro asked. “That guy said he didn’t want to see anything other than the Fire Voyager, so we can’t use our Zords.”

Yuri thought about it and came to an idea. “He doesn’t want to see us coming in ‘our’ Zords. I have a plan.” He brought the others into a huddle, to describe his plan in detail.

* * *

**Gingaku Brainworld.**

Katseayor stood outside his ship, looking around at the planet. “This may be the last time I see this planet.”, he thought to himself. “I thought I’d be getting a bigger turnout.”

Coiloga walked over to him, handing him something. “Here’s your request, fresh from the lab of Dr. Cerebron. What I want to know is why you wanted it modified? Or at all, considering this is supposed to be a solo undertaking.”

“Let’s call it a trump card.”, Katseayor answered. “I said I wanted the Fire Knight to be alone. I never said anything about myself.”

“Ha, I like the way you think.”, Coiloga laughed, before composing himself. “Just to remind you, if this fails, then our Lord has commanded me to tell you not to come back.”

“Believe me, I have no intention of coming back after I fail.”, Katseayor said as he boarded the ship. “Or failing, for that matter.” The hatch of the ship closed behind him, the vehicle taking off and departing for its location.

Coiloga laughed as he saw this occur. “Your plan worked perfectly, Tricerodo.”, he said to his arriving comrade. “He’s totally convinced the planet will be the perfect place for a final showdown.”

“Oh goodie.”, Tricerodo said, as she began to do a small dance excitedly. “Now that gives me time to work on MY plan to get rid of the Rangers.”

“That should be good.”, Coiloga said as he scratched his chin. “But I have to ask, why did you recommend Tempus of all planets?”

Tricerodo just laughed to herself. “Let’s just say I have some memories related to that planet.”

* * *

** Planet Tempus. **

The Fire Voyager landed on the planet, deploying a ramp to allow an exit. Only instead of the usual one inhabitant, there were now twelve Rangers emerging from the shuttle. “It was a good idea to have all of us smuggle ourselves inside the Fire Voyager.”, Drago said. “That way, he won’t see us coming.”

“Except when we all arrive to the site as one large group.”, Slash pointed out. “That might be a big giveaway to Katseayor.”

Myron was scanning the area. “I can’t pick him up, but I am getting some readings that look… familiar.”

“Never mind that now.”, Mila said dismissively. “In order to get to Katseayor without him noticing all of us, we’ll have to split up.”

“Good idea.”, Proton nodded. “Not only can we cover more ground if we separate, but Katseayor is less likely to be suspicious when he finds me.”

“Well, what’re we waiting around for?”, Yuri asked. “Let’s go.”

* * *

And so, everyone went their separate ways, Yuri going into one part of the forest. “I’ve yet to see any evidence this planet has any of those weird Time things I was told it has.”, he was thinking. Then he bumped into a familiar face. An unpleasantly familiar face. “Metaro? I thought we already took you down.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”, Metaro responded. “Anyway, you’re a fool to come back here, human. You may have escaped your execution, but I’m going to finish the job that’s over half an hour late.”

Yuri had a realisation. “Of course, he got pulled in from my past. That’s the effect on this planet.” Metaro pulled out his weapon and swung it at Yuri, who dodged out of the way. “Alright, we’ll do this the hard way.” He placed his Cosmo Sphere in his Morpher and became the Red Ranger, summoning his Cosmo Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He delivered a slash that hit Metaro, knocking him backwards. “Plus I’m more powerful then you think I am.”, he said as he pulled out his Duel Sphere, placing the Sun end into his Morpher.

“What is this power?”, Metaro asked as Yuri transformed into the Solar Red Ranger. Yuri then delivered a punch, which knocked Metaro back to the planet Psyga-6, all that time ago, though he was not aware of the change of chronal location. “Get me Lord Gingaku.”, he demanded to one of his minions. “I need to convince him of the threat these ‘Power Rangers’ pose to us.”

Back in the present, Yuri demorphed and sent out a message to the others. “Guys, I’ve encountered one of those temporal phantoms we were warned about. It was Metaro.”

* * *

Elsewhere on the planet, Myron had chosen a different path through the woods, following his signal. “I’m sure this path will lead me to… Jiprak?” His musings were interrupted by the presence of the dictator that had demonically possessed his brother, exactly as he had last seen him. “No, it’s just another temporal displacement.”

“You, I remember you.”, Spectrum wheezed as he pointed at Myron, before going forward to attack him. “You left me to die in that cave. You’re the reason I’m stuck looking like this.”

Myron morphed into the Orange Ranger, crossing weapons with his foe. He realised that this must be when Heath hadn’t yet perfected the inhibitor mask to keep Jiprak at bay. “Believe me, it wasn’t my choice to leave you. If I could help you, I would. But you’ll have to find me again first.”

“Where could you possibly hide from me?”, Spectrum asked as he grabbed his brother’s neck.

“A planet in unknown space, there are a lot of Cosmo Spheres there.”, Myron wheezed out. “We used to talk about it, remember? Gingaku are going to find me eventually and I want you to be there when they do.” He broke free and threw Spectrum down, before sending him back to his own time with a stab of his Cosmonata. “I’ve got to keep going.”, Myron said as he carried on, trying to ignore the possibility of more phantoms.

* * *

Elsewhere, Mila was walking through the marshlands, much to her regret. “Errgh, this is about as bad quality water as Kakyesu.” As if on cue, a familiar figure appeared to her. “It can’t be, Lethnock?”

“Aye, it be me.”, Lethnock answered her. “An yer that inspector lassie that dropped by on ma business? And I don’t remember calling one in, noo that I think aboot it.”

“Well, you were gonna find this out anyway.”, Mila said as she morphed and ran into battle with him.

“Yer a Power Ranger? I shoulda known. Yer hygiene's too perfect for an inspector.” He charged into battle with her, getting a few hits in as they fuelled in the water.

Mila then jumped out and placed her Cosmo Sphere on her Cosmo Blade. “Time to send you back to your own time.”, she said as she delivered a pair of powered-up hits to Lethnock, sending him back. “Alright, now to find Katseayor.” She ran off along the road she had been following, where she picked up Yuri’s message and responded. “You’re not the only one. I encountered the Planetary Controller from that water planet.”

“ _And I almost got killed by Spectrum._ ”, Myron added. “ _Has anyone else seen anything from their past?”_

“ _Can’t say I have.”_ , Slash responded. “ _But I’ll be on the look out now.”_

* * *

Across the planet, Barry, Jiro, Scales and Winda all came across blue lights, which enveloped them causing them to disappear.

* * *

Tarrant came across a middle-aged man in a lab coat, one who he found very familiar. “It can’t be… Father?”

“ _Such an impressive machine.”_ , Dr. Cerebron said, seeming to ignore what was said to him, when in actuality, his temporal Phantom was a second out of sync. “ _In fact, it’s giving me ideas for my next major project. Gingaku didn’t like my bio-engineering project, but with this inspiration, there’s nothing he can object to about my robotics project._ ” And then the phantom vanished.

Tarrant was confused by the image that he had just seen. “Was that really… the past? Was I my own inspiration?”

* * *

Elsewhere on the planet, Cobras was waking through his own area of the woods, fuming internally. “I’ve been marginalised for the last few battles.”, he thought to himself. “If I had the chance, I’d be able to prove how I’m worth just as much, if not more than Proton. I mean, this guy shows up out of nowhere and a few days later he’s suddenly the best thing ever? If I had the chance to show them, I’d show them.”

As if on cue, a group of Detainers teleported in, as Katseayor stepped forward. “I knew that the Fire Knight wouldn’t follow through on my generous deal. You Rangers are keeping him soft. And while I intended to use these Detainers against him, I’ll have to use them to deal with you.”

“Just try it.”, Cobras said, fighting off the Detainers using basic hand-to-hand, without Morphing.

“Believe me, I will.” Katseayor threw his ball at Cobras, knocking him back against a tree. And then he stepped on his downed opponent’s arm, causing him to cry out in pain. “Don’t bother getting up. You can’t help your friend in this condition.” As Cobras collapsed into unconsciousness, Katseayor walked off, not noticing the blue light envelop his victim.

* * *

** Winter Valley, 35 Years Earlier. **

As Barry regained consciousness, he looked around to take in the surroundings. “When did I get back to Earth?”, he asked. “And how did this destruction happen so quickly?” His second question answered itself when he saw the giant red monster with the arm blade in the distance. “I know that skyline. This is Newinthal, but the buildings look like they date to…” He saw a newspaper discarded on the floor, dated “15th March, 1992”. “I’ve been transported into the past. Just like Scales described.”

“ Come on, girls. You can’t have gone anywhere outside of town this quickly.” Barry turned to the source of the voice, seeing that it came from a teenage girl, one who seemed to look familiar. He saw her going over to a pair of men in black outfits, threatening a pair of girls around the same age as her. “Oh no.”, she said.

Barry really listened to her voice, finally connecting it to the face. “I can’t believe it. That’s Commander Goodman. She looks so young.” He continued watching the scene, wherein he saw the younger Commander Goodman get confrontational with the men, before summoning up a blue suit, which Barry recognised as a Ranger suit. “The Commander was a Power Ranger?”, he said with disbelief.

Lulu Goodman turned around to the source of the noise, but Barry flashed back to his own time before she could see him, resulting in there being nothing there. “Weird. Could’ve sworn I heard someone.”, she thought as she got back to reassuring Lila and Sasha of their safety.

* * *

** Ancient Egypt. 3500 BC. **

Jiro appeared in the middle of a large crowd of half-naked humans, all of whom were bowing to him. One of them, sporting a hat on his head, spoke to him. “Oh mighty Anubis, accept our worship so that our people may rest when their time comes.”

“Uh, thanks?”, Jiro said with confusion. Then he was surrounded by light again, returning to his place on Planet Tempus. “That was certainly a trip.”, he thought to himself.

* * *

** Harwood County, Earth, 2013. **

Scales woke up to see himself surrounded by robots attacking the people. “Wow, this place looks really dangerous.”, he thought. Then he saw various Power Rangers, belonging to different teams, appearing and shooting/slashing at the robots. “Okay, it seems this situation is under control. Still, I’d better join in.” He morphed into the Gold Ranger and began firing on the robots with his Cosmo Rifle. As he took out three of them, the blue light surrounded him again, returning him to the present. “I’d better try to find someone else.”, he said.

* * *

** Planet Armage, Southern Cross System, 1987. **

Winda got to her feet and calibrated her sensors for the new location. “That’s odd, we’re only a few light years away from…” Her thought was interrupted by an explosion in the distance. She moved closer to the source, which turned out to be a figure she recognised as Proton fighting with one she did not. He was wholly black, with lobes all over his chest and hips, armour resembling a face, from which a loincloth with the Gingaku crest hung. He also had a skeletal face and wings and was wielding a scythe. “That must be Orbis, or as I know him, Lord Gingaku.”

As Winda looked on, Proton prepared and executed his usual finishing move. “Burning Calibur!”

She also saw Orbis perform his own move with an ornate scythe, only his was covered in black smoke. “Darkness Vortex Strike!”

The two attacks collided, creating a large explosion, which blinded Winda temporarily. When she recalibrated and could see again, she was back on Tempus. “I should probably go.”, she thought as she carried on.

* * *

When Cobras came to, he was being tended to by someone. He couldn’t make her features out entirely, but she was wearing a semi-formal dress themed like a triceratops, and had a large mouth on her face. “Who are you?”, he asked.

“Someone dedicated to peace in the universe, just as you are.”, the woman answered. “Your injuries seemed bad, so I decided to help you out.”

“Yes, I thank you for your help.”, Cobras said as he got up, still fuming. “I haven’t been able to win in a fight like that for a while. Ever since Scales and I started…” He had a realisation. “Maybe, it’s my friends that are keeping me weak. They’ve dulled my skills.”

“Oh?”, the woman said, showing some apparent interest. “Then perhaps I could help you to achieve your true strength.”

“You can do that?”, Cobras said with some surprise. But then the blue light came for him, causing him to fade away. “Oh no. Where can I find you again?”

“Don’t worry about that.”, Tricerodo responded. “I’ll find you when your time comes, Power Ranger.”

* * *

** Planet Tempus, Present Day. **

Slash walked out into a clearing, where he was shot at by a figure he found familiar. “Cha-ChaMari. So one of you is here too?”

“What are you talking about?”, Cha-ChaMari said with confusion. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember a loser with a face like yours. Us drones share a race memory.”

“Oh yeah.”, Slash said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere and Morphed. He grappled with Cha-ChaMari for a while, before hitting her with his finisher, knocking her back to her own time, where Squideyasu had just received a request for assistance from Gingaku.

Then a second Cha-ChaMari appeared, with the persona of the second the team had faced. “Time to defeat you and avenge Lord Squideyasu.” She began swinging her mace, which was blocked by Slash.

“I’m facing all of them, aren’t I?”, Slash bemoaned.

“All, plus one more.”, Katseayor commented from the sidelines as he held up the package from Coiloga, a tentacle. “Rise, my warrior. Rise!” A new Cha-ChaMari grew out of the tentacle. “Now then, take care of him.”

“By thy command.”, the new one bowed.

* * *

Elsewhere, Drago was wondering around when he met his old friend Tedros. “Ah, I see.”, he said as his clothes turned to a less elaborate set. “Let’s eat.”, he said as he joined his friend at a picnic hamper on a table.

* * *

Elsewhere, Scales found Cobras in the woods. “There you are. I was hoping for a familiar face to see. This place is weird.”

“Yes.”, Cobras said as he got up. “Should we search for Katseayor together? Old pals, back together again.”

“Yes.”, Cobras said with some hesitation. “Let us go.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Slash had finished off the second Cha-ChaMari and was now onto the third. “You’re going to be defeated along with Gingaku by Master Spectrum’s command.” She hit him in the face and then shot him.

The other Rangers began to show up, with Yuri preparing his finisher. “Cosmic Energy Slash!”

Jiro joined him. “Cosmic Energy Scratch!”

Mila was the last to join in. “Cosmic Energy Strike!”

“Oh no.”, the Cha-ChaMari cried as she was knocked back into her timeline. Then a fourth appeared from one of the flashes.

“What is this? Are you those Rangers who’ve been messing up our plans?”, the new one asked.

“Oh please, now there’s 4 of her?”, Slash said with irritation.

“Thou should be honoured.”, the voice of the one created by Katseayor declared. “Mine own progenitor shalt assist me in thy doom.”

“Wait, that ones the progenitor?”, Jiro said with confusion. “What does that mean?”

“It means the original.”, Slash answered. “If I take her out, they’ll be unable to make more of her.” He ran over to the first Cha-ChaMari to appear, slicing at her legs, shoulders and ‘hat’, causing her to vanish.

“Now we finish her off.”, Mila said, as she used her Cosmo Blade to destroy the other one.

It was at that moment that Myron and Tarrant appeared, coming from the same direction. “What happened?”, Tarrant asked. “Did we miss all the fun?”

“On the contrary. You’ve missed the bad part.”, Yuri answered him. “What about you? How did you two meet up?”

“Tarrant here got overpowered by a pair of Commanagas.”, Myron answered him. “I bailed his hide out and we decided to pair up. And I’m almost certain that this planet’s effect is related to a Cosmo Sphere, but I can wait to verify that.”

“Well, since we’re all together, we might as well all go together to face Katseayor.”, Mila suggested. “After all, he can’t be far away.”

* * *

Elsewhere, Scales and Cobras came across Drago chatting with Teddy, with the former going in to break up the chat. “Boss, we really should be going.”, he urged.

“Right, this is just a temporal phantom.” Drago said. He stood up, with Teddy and the table vanishing, with Drago’s outfit returning to normal. “Let’s go to complete our mission.”

* * *

Proton saw Katseayor standing at the end of the woods. “I’m almost there. Today, I’m going to finish this rivalry.”, he thought to himself. “No distractions.”

“Proton?” He man turned to the voice, which was coming from his old friend Corvin, unchanged from the last time they saw each other. “What’re you doing out of your stasis? You shouldn’t be out for decades. I’m still looking for the last place to hide the map to your location.”

“It has been decades.”, Proton replied, as he went in to hug his friend. “You’ve been brought to the planet Tempus by its effect. I’m about to face down Katseayor in a showdown where we both expect to kill the other.”

“Katseayor? Proton, you can’t go through with this. You were never able to deal with him in your past battles.”, Corvin urged.

“But I’m not alone this time.”, Proton assured him. “I’ve found the Cosmic Defenders of legend. Or rather they found me. They’re going to help me put an end to our old pal Orbis once and for all.”

“I knew you couldn’t keep our deal.”, Katseayor’s voice echoed. He threw his ball at Proton who dodged, resulting in Corvin getting hit and sent back in time. “You’re still relying on your friends instead of showing your true strength.”

Proton caught the ball and threw it back at Katseayor. “You don’t get it, do you Katseayor? My friends ARE my true strength. They give me the power to end our eternal conflict.”

“Oh really? Then I’ll just have to destroy all of your friends.”, Katseayor declared.

“Just try it.” Katseayor was knocked back by shots from Winda and Barry.

“Because we’re always going to be there to stop guys like you.” The group of Scales, Cobras and Drago appeared.

“Anyway, anytime.” The rest of the Rangers all showed up.

However, Katseayor merely laughed. “Now that you’re all here, I can defeat you all at once.”

“Guys, It’s Morphing Time!”, Yuri said as everyone pulled out their Cosmo Spheres.

“Galaxy Saber!”, Proton called out, summoning his weapon.

“Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Rise! Change!”

The twelve Rangers all transformed together, standing defiant of their opponent.

“Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

“Venom of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

“Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

“The Balance of Good and Evil, Gold Ranger!”

“Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

“Glimmer of the Serpent, Silver Ranger!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

“Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

“Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“The Burning Challenger, Fire Knight!”

“Bringing the universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

Katseayor tutted. “You think a speech is supposed to intimidate me?” He threw his ball at Winda and Slash, knocking them back. He then engaged in a wrestling match with Myron and Tarrant, where he was coming out on top.

“This is why I have friends.”, Proton said as he pulled his Saber out and swung it at Katseayor, who Tarrant and Myron let go of. “They allow you to pull off more elaborate moves, that catch you off guard.”

“That won’t help you much.”, Katseayor said as he swung around, knocking all three back with his ball. However, he found his arm being wrapped by Barry’s scarf. “What’s this?”

“It’s a restraint.”, Mila answered as she did likewise with her Cosmo Blade. “Now guys.”

The three that had been knocked down, now joined by Yuri, slashed at Katseayor, who was unable to dodge due to being held in place. Then Myron and Tarrant kicked him back, before the two reds delivered their consecutive slashes to him. “Take this.”, Katseayor cried as he began swinging his ball and chain, causing the Rangers to duck for cover.

“Thanks for the opening.”, Barry said as he jumped on top of the ball, using it to knock Katseayor down with his Cosmonata.

“You small fries stand no match against a seasoned warrior like myself.”, Katseayor declared as he launched a fireball from his remaining hand.

“Whore you calling ‘small fry’?”, Barry yelled as everyone leapt to the side. He prepared his Bear-22 Sphere, using it in his Morpher. “Plus Up!” He grew to giant size and kicked the fireball back to sender like a pro. He then reached down and swatted Katseayor upwards into the air, where everyone dealt slashes to him. “Cosmic Energy Jumbo Blast!” Barry fired his Morpher at Katseayor, knocking him back.

Katseayor found himself surrounded by all 12 Rangers. “Now will you accept we can crush you easily?”, Yuri asked.

“The twelve of us together are easily worth the same as an army of your lot.”, Proton said.

Everyone prepped their Morphers for a finishing move, that combined all twelve of their powers into one for the first time. “Ultimate Cosmic Impact!”

Katseayor took the blast as everyone gathered around in a victory pose. However, he survived. “I won’t go down that easily.”, he declared as his shoulder pad glowed, enlarging him to giant size. “Witness the power of a super growth implant.”

“Summon Zords.” Everyone summoned their vehicles, combining them into one. “All Zords, Combine! Zodiac Megazord, ready!”

“Time for all twelve powers to really come together.”, Yuri declared.

“Let’s see how this operates with all of us.”, Proton said. “Let’s check for function.”

“Head, operational.”, Drago, Barry and Proton stated.

“Centre, operational.”, Yuri, Slash, Winda, Mila and Myron stated.

“Legs, operational.”, the rest of them stated.

Katseayor began swinging his mace before he engaged the Zodiac Megazord. However, he found himself outmatched. “No, this can’t be. No lifeform can outclass me.” He threw his ball at Proton, who detached his cockpit temporarily to dodge.

“Zords Barrage!” The Eagle, Scorpion, Balance, Serpent, Dragon and Bear Zords detached, launching their attacks on Katseayor, before rejoining.

“Take this.”, Katseayor fired a large beam of dark energy, which was kicked back by Scales and Cobras.

“Thruster Uppercut!”, Mila and Myron used their arm to deliver a strike to Katseayor, knocking him back.

The Rangers all prepped their final attack as Katseayor fired a larger version of his ball at them. “Cosmic Alignment Attack!” The 12 Cosmo Spheres flew into Katseayor’s ball, knocking it back into him. “This Space is ours.”

“This can’t be.”, Katseayor yelled. “I’m the strongest there is. I was the chosen one.” With that said, he exploded, as the Zodiac Megazord stood triumphant.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

Within Myron’s lab, the stone sphere glowed, shattering to reveal an exact replica, that had a red frame, a blue circle on top and a similarly coloured ring, with the dots coloured, red, orange, blue, gold, black, silver, green, pink and yellow. The main sphere was white and the stand now had a number: “315”. In the nearby machine, the man within woke up, with a deep breath.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Within Cerebron’s laboratory, he was annoyed at Katseayor’s failure. “I can’t believe that fool wasted one of my drones. I’ll only give out the next one to…”

“ _There is to be no ‘next one’_.”, Gingaku’s voice echoed as his image appeared on a screen. “ _The original donor has discovered your project was using her DNA without permission. She’s ordered your operation shut down.”_

“Oh, isn’t that a shame?”, Tricerodo said mockingly. “Well, I can cheer you up by letting you know I have plans for another of your inventions.”

“The Gingaku Morpher? But I haven’t even found a suitable subject for it.”, Cerebron stated.

“I believe you can leave that with me.”, Tricerodo said as she walked out.

* * *

** Planet Tempus. **

Myron dragged the Rangers to a spot he had singled out on his scanner. “Are you really sure there’s a Cosmo Sphere here, causing all this trouble?”, Winda asked.

“Positive.”, Myron answered her as he began moving the dirt from a part of the ground. “And it should be right around…” he pulled out a Sphere, labelled “14”. It was in a golden frame and had the image of a clock on it. “No wonder the time here is so weird. Someone left this Sphere, Chronos-14, in the initialisation phase for a long time. The charge has built up as a result.”

Before he could turn it off, two more blue flashes appeared, which took away Drago and Tarrant. Myron wasted no time in flicking the Sphere out of alignment. The whole planet was surrounded by a blue ring. However, neither of the missing Rangers reappeared. “Shouldn’t they have returned when the distortion was switched off?”, Mila asked.

“Apparently, it only brings them back if there’s a distortion to do so.”, Myron said. “Which means that until I can figure out how to safely use this thing, Drago and Tarrant are stuck in whatever era they were sent back to.”

Before anyone could do anything else, Yuri received a notification on his communicator. It was from Pamela. “ _Guys, I think you should get back to Earth. Something’s come up that we think you should see.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 25 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Sorry this is later than usual this week, but I’ve been in a black spot for the last few days, so I decided to make this the sole chapter this week. 
> 
> The decision to focus on Cobras getting tempted by Tricerodo was added in late in the day both to set up the next chapter and to carry on from the fact I’ve been (deliberately) making him something of a punching bag since Spectrum was defeated.
> 
> See Power Rangers Wing Force chapter 16 for the full story behind what Barry witnessed.


	24. When Light and Dark Collide, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tired of being treated poorly by his fellow Rangers, Cobras switches sides to Tricerodo in order to become more powerful.

**Planet Tempus, the Chronos System.**

Coiloga landed on the planet. Whereas before, he would’ve steered clear for fear of the distorted temporal effects, the Power Rangers had put paid to that by switching off the Cosmo Sphere that was causing it. So he was able to come to the planet and locate the remains of his comrade Katseayor. “Ah, Katseayor.”, Coiloga said upon finding his comrade’s burnt-out body. He then kicked it. “I never had faith in you anyway.” As he kicked the body, he caused part of Katseayor’s chest armour to fall off, exposing something. “What? How can this be?” He took the body into his hands and carried him off.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

The Rangers landed outside the base, only to find the surrounding scenery was surprisingly unfamiliar. “Were the trees around here always brown on the leaves?”, Mila asked.

“Yeah, and the humans aren’t as showing as much skin as they used to.”, Scales added. “This seems like a drastic change of climate for a few hours away.”

“‘A few hours’? I wish.” Commander Goodman, the source of the comment, walked out of the base. “You’ve been gone for three months, or at least, that’s when we were last able to call you.”

“It must be an effect of the Chronos-14 distortion.”, Myron speculated. “While it may have seemed like hours for us, the distortion in time meant it was months for Earth.” He then turned back to the Commander. “What was so important you tried to call us for help?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”, Myron himself was shocked by the familiar figure who exited the building. It was his brother, Heath. “After you left, I was woken up by something, which the Commander here thought warranted calling you back. But after you didn’t show up after a week, I decided I might as well help out around here.” Myron interrupted him at this point with a hug. “Whoah there, I was expecting you to do this if we met again, but I wasn’t expecting you to be this tight.”

“I really missed you.”, Myron said, barely concealing his emotion. “How did you wake up?”

“I really don’t know myself.”, Heath answered. “I just woke up in the lab and took note of the new Cosmo Sphere you had on the table, so my first thought was to examine that.” He noticed the confused looks on everyone’s face. “I assume this new Cosmo Sphere is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”

“Mystery is right.”, Yuri answered him. “How about we go inside, so we can compare notes on what happened to both sides of our equation?”

Everyone nodded and walked inside. Everyone except Cobras, who felt a strange presence in his mind. “This presence. I know it.”, he thought as he walked off.

* * *

From high above, Tricerodo and her two Commanaga escorts looked down on Cobras. “He’s already walking into our trap, boys.”, the former said. “And once he does, I’ll have two strong players to re-take the Earth with.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Dr. Cerebron was in conference with Gingaku. “My Lord, Tricerodo has taken my latest weapon and plans to use it to re-take Earth.”

“ _The planet is too heavily guarded for such an assault_.”, Dark Soul pointed out. “ _The Power Rangers were recently registered coming back to the planet from Tempus. What weapon of yours could she possibly use to deal with them._ ”

“Ah, but this is no mere weapon.”, Cerebron stated. “This weapon will not only turn the Ranger’s power against them, but give Lord Gingaku the power of Cosmic Energy to advance his plans.”

“ _It’d better live up to this hype you’re giving it_.”, Gingaku said. “ _With the Fire Knight in the equation, I’ll be requiring power like that to even the odds in the event of a rematch. If you can’t guarantee me that, then I’ll be more than happy to remove you from my service. Permanently._ ” With that said, he switched off the communication, leaving Cerebron alone.

Alone, until Coiloga entered the room, with Katseayor’s torso. “I want you to analyse this for me.”, he said as he slammed it down on the table. “And then, analyse me and Tricerodo, so I can be sure of a theory.”

“Fascinating.”, Cerebron said as he looked at the torso, which had wires portruding from a crack.

* * *

**Providence Base, Earth.**

The Rangers and Heath went into the lab, where Myron placed the Chronos-14 Sphere into its place in the stand that had been constructed for the Cosmo Spheres. “Now we only have 8 of the 89 to add to the collection.”, he noted.

“Who’d have thought that the Tempus effect was the result of an overcharged Cosmo Sphere all along?”, Heath asked. He then moved on and indicated the mysterious one that he had been talking about. “I think that this is what woke me up from my coma.”

“It seems to be that globe we found after our last battle.”, Proton said as he examined it. “Somehow, it’s turned into a real Cosmo Sphere, albeit one of an unusual shape. Liekely due to all of us piloting the Zodiac Megazord this time.”

“Never mind where it came from.”, Barry said as he picked it up and put it in his Morpher. “Let’s see what ability it has.” He pulled the Sphere backwards, only to be met with an error sound.

“You really think that this is just for abilities?”, Slash said as he picked the Sphere up and put into his own Morpher. “It’s obviously a Morphing Sphere.” He pushed the Sphere forward, only to be met with the same error message. “How is this thing supposed to work?”, he said as he slammed it down on the table.

“Perhaps it requires all of us here to function properly.”, Winda suggested, before getting dejected. “Which is currently impossible, because Drago and Tarrant vanished into the past while we were on Tempus.”

“Speaking of vanishing, what happened to Cobras?”, Scales decided to point out.

Everyone suddenly realised what they had missed. “The last I saw him was outside.”, Yuri answered the question. “Who knows where he went?”

“We’d better look for him.”, Mila said as the group began to head out.

* * *

In the nearby forest, Cobras walked out into a clearing. “I know you’re here.”, he yelled. “Come out so I can see you.”

“My, how rude of me.”, Tricerodo said as she stepped out of the shadows, unaccompanied. “You should know who I am by now, Cobras.”

“You’re Gingaku's Right General Tricerodo.”, Cobras realised. “But you’re also the one who helped me before.”

“Oh yes, when you appeared next to me via the Tempus effect.”, Tricerodo pointed out. “But since we’re enemies, I suppose a fight is inevitable.”

“Indeed so.”, Cobras said as he pulled out his Serpent-06 Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He fired, transforming into the Silver Ranger. He and Tricerodo then charged at each other. Cobras tried to hit her with his Cosmo Scythe, but she dodged the hits and pushed him back with her own weapon, knocking him against a tree.

“You really have gone soft with the Rangers.”, Tricerodo said with some sadness. “Such a shame to see such a capable warrior reduced to this.”

“They’ve managed to liberate Earth and beat two of Gingaku’s best since I joined them.”, Cobras noted.

Tricerodo scoffed at this. “And how much of this involved you directly? All you did against Squideyasu was get rid of some rain clouds. Before you joined the Rangers, you were protecting the planet Matoine very successfully. And without you, Gingaku came in and sterilised the planet.”

“What?”, Cobras said with shock. Tricerodo removed her staff, an opportunity he used to collapse to the floor. “All that work I put into protecting those people, all for nothing.” He then reverted to normal, now angry. “And it’s all the Rangers’ fault. If they hadn’t taken me away, I could’ve saved the planet. But instead, Matoine is gone, just like my home planet.”

“I doubt you’d have made much difference as you’d like.”, Tricerodo said sympathetically. “Baja was rather a small fry compared to the one who destroyed the planet. You’d have fallen with them.” She then called her two Commanagas forth, one of whom was carrying a briefcase. “Which is something I’d like to rectify for you.”

Cobras staggered over to the briefcase, opening it to reveal the contents. It was a black version of the Cosmo Morpher, with a slightly modified barrel. “Are you saying that this could help me become stronger?”, he said, with desperation in his voice.

“Not even the other Rangers could match your strength.”, Tricerodo assured him. “And all you have to do is put it on.”

“Don’t listen to her.” The two Commanagas were knocked back by a shot, as Yuri, Myron, Mila, Slash and Proton arrived. “She just trying to manipulate you.”, the latter urged. “She’s with Gingaku, the enemy.”

“Your enemy, maybe.”, Cobras growled as he picked up the black Morpher. “But I’m not going to stay on the same team that been dragging me down for months. The same team that allowed the work I put into saving a planet to go to waste.”

“Cobras, what’re you saying?”, Mila said with worry. “We’re supposed to save the universe together.”

“I never wanted to save the universe.”, Cobras said as he put the black Morpher onto his arm. He cried in pain briefly, but it stopped as his eyes flashed purple. “In fact, I don’t even want this anymore.” He took out his Serpent-06 Sphere and threw it to the ground in front of them. “Thanks to my new friends in Gingaku, I’ve awakened an even greater power.”

Energy lapsed forth from Cobras, which formed into a Cosmo Sphere. However, this one had a dark purple frame and instead of a number, was marked with the Gingaku crest. “Amazing, he birthed his new power all by himself.”, Myron said with surprise.

“I’d be impressed too, if he weren’t about to try and destroy us.”, Slash yelled back at him.

Cobras slid his new Sphere into formation, resembling a clenched fist, and inserted it into his new Morpher. “Dark Energy, Destroy!”, he yelled as he pushed the Sphere forward and fired at the other Rangers. Proton protected himself by calling the Galaxy Saber, but everyone else was knocked back by the force of the blast. The energy surrounded Cobras, transforming him. But instead of the usual Silver Ranger costume, he now had a thick, crimson scarf with yellow lines wrapped around his neck, a similarly-coloured coattail with a snake pattern around his waist, some red colouration on his helmet and the circle on his chest had become an eye. “The Envoy of Darkness! I am the Void Ranger!”, he declared.

“‘Void Ranger’?”, Yuri said with confusion and worry. “Looks like we’re going to have to fight him. It’s Morphing Time!” He, Myron, Mila and Slash summoned their Morphers and inserted their Spheres, as Proton did likewise with his. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Rise! Change!”

The five were morphed into their Ranger forms. “We don’t want to fight you, Cobras.”, Proton insisted.

“Well, that’s your problem.”, Cobras said as he fired at them, which they dodged. Cobras ran forward with his Cosmo Scythe, now corrupted with the red parts coloured black and the blue parts coloured purple, to engage his former teammates, who he began brushing aside. As Myron, Mila and Slash tried to hold Cobras down, he simply brushed them aside. When Yuri and Proton tried to push him back, he threw them back and began swinging his weapon. “You can’t stop me.”, he gloated. “I have more power than all of you now.” The eye on his chest fired a beam at the Rangers, who were knocked back as he looked around.

Yuri struggled to try and pull himself up after the blast. “Don’t do this.”, he urged.

“Why shouldn’t I?”, Cobras asked. “I can handle all of you like you’re those Area Controllers YOU all took down.”

“Wait a minute.”, Mila tried to explain, but Cobras ignored her, instead placing a Cosmo Sphere from the box onto his Scythe.

“Black Hole Glaive!” The weapon became charged with energy, which he tried to bring down on Mila.

“Leave her alone.”, Yuri called as he knocked Cobras out of the way, causing the blast to narrowly miss its target and cut down a tree.

“Ah yes, the golden child.”, Cobras said as he telekinetically wrapped Yuri in his scarf. “You think you’re so special because you got chosen by that cosmic presence. Well just how special are we now?” He delivered more slashes to his opponent, knocking him down. As the other Rangers ran to tend to their friend, Cobras unleashed one more strike of his Black Hole Glaive, which subsumed them in an explosion and knocked them out of their Morph.

“Nice work, my friend.”, Tricerodo said as she stepped forward. “I can count on you for more work, right?”

“Indeed.”, Cobras answered her. “You’ve made me feel more wonderful than these fools ever could.”

“Let’s go then.”, Tricerodo commented as they walked off. “See you later, Power Failures.”

The other Rangers struggled to get up after that last hit. “Myron, you’re a smart guy.”, Mila commented. “How are you going to get us out of this?”

“I don’t know.”, Myron said, clearly worried. “I really have no solution to this problem.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku and Dark Soul had witnessed the fight that had taken place. “Excellent.”, Gingaku laughed. “Once again, you have outdone yourself Doctor.”

“ _Thank you._ ”, Cerebron's voice echoed. “ _And like I said earlier, this Gingaku Morpher I created drains its user’s Cosmic Energy and transfers it to you, my Lord. And as one chosen to be a Ranger, Mr. Cobras has plenty of Cosmic Energy to give._ ”

“Yes, I can feel my power growing.”, Gingaku declared as he developed a glowing aura. “But I’d like to see the Void Ranger fully defeat the Power Rangers to pass judgement fairly.”

“ _Oh don’t worry about that_.”, Tricerodo radioed. “ _With any luck, the Rangers will come to find their friend. And then, they’ll meet their doom._ ”

* * *

** Tricerodo’s Hideout. **

Tricerodo was dancing around her lair. “I can’t believe I did this. I managed to turn one of the Power Rangers against his friends.” She looked over to that Ranger now, who had changed into a grey Nehru outfit with a red cape. “How do you feel, honey?”

“I feel great.”, Cobras hissed. “What’re we going to do next, now that the Power Rangers are no threat?”

Tricerodo giggled. “I thought that we’d move on and retake the Earth for Gingaku.”

“What, with just the two of us?”, Cobras asked. “Because even with your two lunkheads, a high chance of success is charitable at best.” The two Commanagas took offence at this.

“Prove him wrong, boys.”, their boss said to them, before turning to her newest recruit. “Don’t worry, it won’t just be the four of us. You and I will be going on a recruitment drive. And to increase our efficiency, we’ll be sending out someone else to do the same task. The planet Earth will soon be ours once more.”

* * *

** Providence Base. **

Yuri’s team had regrouped with the others and shared their encounter with the Void Ranger. “So to summarise, Cobras…” Winda tried to say, but struggled “has joined up with Gingaku?”

“That’s the gist of it.”, Myron responded. “He’s also developed a hatred for us in the process.”

“No.”, Scales insisted. “That can’t be. Not Cobras. He’s a guy with a strong sense of pride. He’d never join up with Gingaku.”

“Well, he did.”, Slash stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “He mentioned that he thought we were holding him back. That we’d stopped him from saving Matoine.”

“Matoine was destroyed?”, Jiro said with shock. “When did that happen?”

“A few weeks ago.”, Heath answered. “After you left it, Gingaku sent Tricerodo in to Omega-Zero the planet. He decided that since the planets’ defenders had left it and reconquering it would take too long, it was better to recover anyone of value from the planet and then remove the rest from the equation entirely.”

“That would hit him right in the pride.”, Mila realised. “He spent a long time protecting that planet with Scales. To hear it had been destroyed because he left it would be a real wound to the pride.”

“Especially since his own world was destroyed.”, Yuri pointed out. “Knowing that two worlds died on your watch, it can’t be good for your mental state.”

The conversation was interrupted by an alarm sounding. “What’s that noise?”, Barry asked.

“I decided to fit us with an alarm system in case of a Gingaku attack.”, Heath explained. “You can view the trouble on the monitor.”

Myron went over to the screen, where he saw two signals at once. “There’s two attacks going on at the same time?”, he questioned, before switching the alarm off.

“We’ll have to split up and deal with both.”, Proton suggested. “I’ll take Slash, Winda and Myron to the one that’s further away. Yuri, you take the rest to the other one.”

“Sorry, but I won’t be joining you.”, Myron stated. “I’m going to stay here and try to figure out how this new Cosmo Sphere works. With Cobras out there, I’d like to have access to any edge we can possibly get our hands on.”

Proton sighed. “Very well. Everyone, let’s go.”

Everyone else did a fist pump, saying “Okay”, before leaving the room.

* * *

**The Nearby Point.**

Cobras was firing on the people. “Yes, tremble. Your suffering is at the hands of one of the Power Rangers you hold so dear.”, he declared.

“That’s it, darling.”, Tricerodo thought to herself. “Keep at it, until the real Rangers show up.”

As if on cue, Yuri’s team came running onto the scene. Jiro went over to one of the civilians. “Are you okay?”, he asked.

“Go away.”, the man yelled as he pulled away. “It was one of you Rangers that caused this destruction.”

“No, you don’t understand.”, Mila insisted.

“Oh, I’m sure they do.”, Tricerodo said as she walked out of the shadows. “These Rangers say they’re here to keep you safe. And yet, one of them attacks you and destroys your homes. Can you really say Gingaku did worse?”

“No.”, the crowd that had gathered all declared.

“Excellent.”, Tricerodo stated. “Then you won’t mind me doing this.” She fired a black gas from her weapon, which enveloped the people. When it dispersed, all of them had become angry.

“These Rangers are worse than Gingaku.”, the same man from before yelled.

“We should get rid of them all.”, a woman added.

“No, you’re making a mistake.”, Barry insisted.

“The only mistake was the one you made in coming here.”, Cobras responded. “They’re now against you, as I am.”

“So it’s true.”, Scales said dejectedly. “You have joined Gingaku.”

“Indeed I have.”, Cobras answered. “I’m sorry to break up our friendship, Scales. But if you continue to stand with the Rangers, then you’re my enemy.” He prepped his Void Sphere and inserted it into his Dark Morpher. “Dark Energy, Destroy!”

The 5 Rangers, except for Scales, prepared their own Morphs. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” While the 6 Rangers transformed, Tricerodo threw Detainer helmets onto the crowd, who did nothing to resist, as they were taken over and transformed into faceless henchmen.

“Let’s go.”, Cobras stated as he ran towards the Rangers. He managed to knock Yuri, Jiro and Scales down, but Mila and Barry held onto him. “You’re pathetic.”, he said as he threw Mila to one side.

“Cobras, that’s enough.”, Scales yelled as he began fighting his former partner.

“Ah, Ah, no helping.”, Tricerodo said as she knocked Barry and Mila back with her weapon. Yuri and Jiro joined in the fight with her as Scales and Cobras ran off.

Scales desperately tried to defend himself against Cobras’ Black Hole Glaive. “Don’t do this.”, he pleaded. “Cobras, I’m your friend.”

“My friend?”, Cobras became angry as he took another set of swings at his enemy. “Where were you when I was being left behind at the rebellion camp constantly? Where were you when I got beaten back by Abomiknight? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN KATSEAYOR LEFT ME FOR DEAD ON TEMPUS?”

As the Glaive caught Scales’ shoulder and pulled him forward, he answered the question. “Believe me, I didn’t know about any of that.”

“That’s the problem.”, Cobras said as he looked at the floor, and then back to his opponent. “You don’t know anything about me.”, he said as he pushed Scales back. “We’re not friends.” He delivered a series of slashes with his Glaive, which knocked Scales back.

Scales got up. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t think about your feelings. But we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together, between the separate missions we were sent on and you keeping to yourself. But I’m sure we can fix this.” He went over to his partner and prepped his hand for a high-five. “Peace?”

Cobras seemed to think about it for a moment. But as Scales came closer, he moved his Glaive to collide with the robot’s leg, knocking him down. “That’s not enough at this point.”, he responded. He then stepped on the robot and slashed him again. “You gave me less credit than the mutt. Now I won’t rest until you’re nothing but debris between my hands.” He continued slashing away.

Elsewhere, Yuri was knocked back by another attack from Tricerodo. “Man, she’s much tougher than she looks.”, he noted.

“Oh believe me, this is just the start.”, Tricerodo responded. “Once I’ve built up my army of Detainers, I’m going to lead an attack to take back the Control Gear you ‘loaned’ from us.”

“We won’t let you do that.”, Mila responded.

“It’s funny you think you have a choice.”, Tricerodo laughed. “Oh boys.” The two Commanagas grew to giant size. “You can’t stop them and my army at the same time.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll give it a try.”, Barry declared as he ran into the army of Detainers, beginning to hit them, only to receive no response.

* * *

**The Further Point.**

Proton’s trio touched down to see the people having Detainer helmets thrown on to them. “Where are these helmets coming from?”, Winda asked.

“That would be me.” Everyone turned to see a Commanaga, this one with slightly different armour and a red and blue colour scheme. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lady Tricerodo’s loyal right-hand, Structcon.”

“Really?”, Slash asked. “Because I think you’re being replaced at the moment.”

“I know about your former friend.”, Structcon stated. “He’s merely a puppet. Once we’ve retaken this planet, we’ll drain him of his Cosmic Energy until he’s nothing but a husk.”

“So that’s your plan for him.”, Proton realised. “Well we’re not going to let you carry it out. Galaxy Saber!” He summoned his Morpher and inserted his Cosmo Sphere into it.

The other two did likewise with theirs. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Rise! Change!”

The three were morphed into their suits. “That’s not going to make a difference. I’ve been modified to mimic any two elements of my choosing at once.” He faced down Slash first, who swung his Cosmo Dagger down. “I’ll start by showing you the invulnerability of a tank,” he took the hit and felt no pain “with the speed of a rabbit.” He moved at a high speed, knocking Slash down.

“Let’s see how you can handle this.”, Proton stated as he prepared his finishing move. “Burning Calibur!” He brought down his sword to deliver a slash.

However, Structcon emerged from the inferno unscathed. “I’ll show you, Fire Knight, the resurrection capabilities of a Phoenix,” he walked over to his enemy “with the incredible strength and weight of a robot.” He knocked Proton back with a powerful punch.

“You won’t be able to get me that easily.”, Winda stated as she flew up into the air, using the Fly-57 Sphere to fly higher.

“Oh no?”, Structcon asked. “Let me show you the incredible flight powers of a hawk,” he jumped into the air, quickly matching the height of the Pink Ranger “mixed with the firepower of a machine gun.” He launched a flurry of shots at his target, who was felled by them, crashing into the Earth from a great height. He then landed and addressed the three. “I’ll let you live for now. After all, we’ll destroy you all soon enough when Lady Tricerodo goes after your base.” Structcon then teleported away, laughing maniacally.

“Oh no.”, Slash wheezed. “We need to let the others know.”

* * *

Back with Yuri’s team, Jiro was looking at the two giant Commanagas and asking “What’re we gonna do about these guys with only three of us?”

“Leave that with me.”, Yuri said as he pulled out a Cosmo Sphere and loaded it into his Morpher. “Double-25 Cosmo Sphere, Activate!” He fired at Jiro and Mila, splitting both of them into two.

“Nice idea.”, the two Milas said as they high-fived each other.

“Man, I look good.”, the two Jiros said as they put their arms around each other.

Everyone then got into position and knocked their main Cosmo Spheres to the left. “Summon Zords.” As the 5 Zords appeared, they combined, with the two Greens making up the right side and the two Blues making up the left side. “Cosmo Megazord, ready!”

“Chameleon Tonge Attack!”, the Mila in the right arm deployed her Zord’s tongue to tie up the two Commanagas. “How about you two come closer.” She pulled the two towards the Megazord, which knocked them back with a punch.

“Let’s show them the power of two wolves.”, Jiro in the left arm said.

“You know it.”, Jiro in the left leg said. After a brief scuffle, the left leg kicked the two opponents backwards.

“Great teamwork, even if it is with yourself.”, Yuri said as he prepped his Morpher for a final attack.

“Cosmo Megazord Dual Strike!” The two Commanagas were blown apart by green and blue beams respectively.

On the ground, Barry continued to slash at the Detainers, to no result. “It’s not working.”, he said.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”, Tricerodo laughed. “These are a new model of helmet, which is a lot harder to cut through than the old kind.”

“What?”, Barry said with shock.

“It’s been fun watching you struggle, but I really should stop you before you damage my army.” Tricerodo hit Barry down with her weapon, before turning towards Cobras. “We’re done here.”

“Indeed we are.”, Cobras responded as he left Scales’ broken and battered body lying on the ground. “I’ll finish my business with the Rangers when we attack their base.” With that said, the two of them teleported out.

* * *

** Providence Base. **

Myron and Heath had still been examining the new Cosmo Sphere, to new success. “It’s hopeless.”, Myron said in a rage. “This thing is our best bet against the upcoming attack on our headquarters. And we still have no idea how it works.”

“Myron calm down.”, Heath said, putting his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“How can I stay calm?”, Myron practically shouted. “One of our teammates has not only turned against us, but he’s got his hands on a power that puts anything we could offer to shame. And the one thing that could help us isn’t any help at all.” He went over to the Cosmo Sphere and slammed his hand on top, causing it to glow with energy.

Heath was shocked to see this. “Bro, what did you do?”

“I don’t know.”, Myron said as he accidentally nudged the ring of the Sphere, causing it to spin around. This caused the light to disperse from the Sphere. Myron then perked up. “I think I’ve discovered how this thing works. Do you know what this means?”

“It means we might still have a way out of this.”, Heath answered him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episodes 26 and 28 of Kyuranger. I merged them to speed up the pacing of this fic. 
> 
> Though I cut out the time travel arc, I still intend to use the footage at some point. But for now, the Shishi Red Orion counterpart will have a different debut fight. 
> 
> This chapter will be the only one released this week in order to balance out my release schedule. It’s coming out on Tuesday because I have a birthday on Wednesday and an appointment on Friday.


	25. When Light and Dark Collide, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri must unlock a new power to save the rebellion when Tricerodo leads an attack on Providence Base.

_In the last instalment of Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders, the Rangers returned to Earth, to find that 3 months had passed and Myron’s brother Heath had recovered from his possession by the evil Jiprak. As the two brothers worked on a new and unusual Cosmo Sphere, Gingaku’s servant Tricerodo corrupted Cobras into her evil Void Ranger, who went around creating an army of Detainers to attack Providence Base. Can the Rangers successfully fend off this attack? Find out here._

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku watched as the Void Ranger continued to cause destruction. “Yes. YESSSSS!”, he laughed. “The Power Rangers and the Fire Knight don’t stand a chance against this warrior.” Once more, his hand glowed with the Cosmic Energy he was draining from Cobras. He brought up a communication link. “Tricerodo, when will your attack begin?”

“ _It won’t be long now, my Lord_.”, came the response. “ _Cobras and Structcon have each recruited at least 50 of our newest Detainers to our cause. I merely need to get them into formation for the assault._ ”

“See that you do.”, Gingaku said as he stood up. “Not only will you be ensuring that the Earth is once more ours, but you will give me the energy I need to evolve into a stronger life form.”

“ _The Power Rangers will be no more by the end of the day._ ”, Tricerodo giggled as she signed off.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

Yuri, Jiro, Scales, Mila and Slash all came into Myron and Heaths’ lab. “Is this all we have right now?”, Heath asked.

“I’m afraid so.”, Mila nodded solemnly. “Winda needs some repairs and Barry and Proton are nursing their injuries.”

“Well, this will have to do.”, Myron said, clearly urging everyone to be quick. “I’ve finally discovered how this new Cosmo Sphere actually works.” He brought it out and placed it on a table. “You press this button on top of the Sphere to begin generating Cosmic Energy.” He did that, causing the Sphere to glow. “Then you spin the ring around the globe to release it.” He spun the disc, causing an outburst of energy.

“So what’re we waiting for?”, Slash asked. “Let’s use it to defeat Cobras and get him back to normal.” He reached out to pick it up.

Heath stopped him in his tracks. “Unfortunately, the power that this Sphere puts out is more than most beings can handle. You need a truly phenomenal amount of Cosmic Energy to handle this power without burning out every cell of your DNA.”

“‘Burning out’?”, Yuri said to himself, an idea forming in his head.

Before he could suggest it, an alarm went off and a voice sounded over the intercom. “ _Red alert. Red alert. All major personnel are to report to the control room immediately._ ”

“I guess duty calls.”, Scales said as everyone left the room.

* * *

Everyone soon gathered in the control room. “I shouldn’t have to brief you on the severity of this situation.”, Commander Goodman said.

“You don’t.”, Jiro replied. “We are down by 6 guys. And one of them’s on the other team now.”

“Make that down by 5.” Everyone turned to see Proton staggering into the room. “I’m not going down that easily.”

Slash seemed annoyed to see his ally. “I thought you were badly injured. It would take a day to heal.”

“For a normal person, yes.”, Proton responded, holding up his Firebird-12 Cosmo Sphere. “But this thing gives me accelerated healing abilities.”

“Never mind that now.”, Mila interrupted. “We still can’t possibly win with our reduced numbers.”

“I’ve thought of that.”, the Commander piped up. “I’ve drafted in former soldiers from Grid Battleforce, The Aquabase, hidden ninja academies, the Silver Guardians, you name it. We have a functioning army to fight back with.”

“We should try not to hurt the enemy troops too severely.”, Myron said, placing an old invention on the table. “I’ve not had much cause to try and replicate this weapon, or the effect of the Cosmo Sphere I used to power it. So we’ll have to entrust someone with the weapon in order to free the people as harmlessly as possible.”

“I’ll see to that for you.”, Goodman assured him, before going over to Heath. “Can I talk with you alone for a minute?” Heath nodded as the two went outside the room and shut the door. “Have you done what I asked you to?”

“Indeed I have.”, Heath answered, giving her a pair of retro-looking bracelets. “You’re lucky that I was able to find a Dynatherium core in the lab. I’m just wondering why a 40 year-old gadget watch was powered by something that doesn’t exist on Earth.”

“Don’t you worry about that.”, Goodman responded. “Just know that you’ve given us another ace to use against the enemy when they attack.”

As if on cue, another alarm sounded as the doors opened. “Tricerodo’s right outside, with her army.”, Pamela reported.

“Mobilise the troops and get them out there.”, Goodman commanded. She then turned to Heath. “Try and find something in our armoury that can give us a bigger edge.”

“I’ll help him out.”, Myron stated. “That way the rest of us can focus on the task at hand. Everyone, go now.”

The other Rangers nodded and headed out. All except Yuri, who shouted “I’ll catch up” long after anyone would’ve heard him. He closed his eyes and focused, delving deep into his mind space, until he found what he was looking for. Or rather, who. “I need to talk with you, lion.”

“ _ **Indeed you do.**_ ”, the armoured figure of the lion said in his deep booming voice. “ ** _We have much to discuss._** ”

* * *

Outside the structure, Cobras and Structcon were standing at the front of the army of Detainers. “I’m surprised we didn’t do more to fortify this place.”, Cobras said disdainfully. “I would’ve added some layer of security to this place.”

“Well, you didn’t, lucky for us.”, Structcon replied. “We can attack with no trouble.”

“Don’t count your chickens yet.”, shouted Scales as he ran out with Jiro, Mila, Slash and Proton following behind him. “Because we’re going to stop your invasion before it starts.”

“Only 5 of you?”, Cobras laughed. “You must be desperate.”

“Yeah, Yuri’s supposed to be out here with us.”, Jiro complained. “Where is he?”

“Never mind that now.”, Mila answered. “We’ll have to do without him. Let’s morph.”

Everyone pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and summoned their Morphers, inserting the former into the latter. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!/Rise, Change!” Everyone transformed into their Ranger forms.

Cobras simply scoffed at this. He brandished his Gingaku Morpher, summoning his Void Sphere and grabbing it, before inserting it. “Dark Energy, Destroy!” He pushed his Sphere forward and fired, transforming into the Void Ranger. “Let’s dance, Rangers.”

And so a fight broke out, with Mila and Jiro taking on the Detainers, Slash and Proton taking on Structcon and Scales taking on Cobras. “I’m not going to let you get the better of me this time.”, the robot stated, plugging the Archer-35 Sphere into his Cosmo Rifle and shooting his friend with it.

Cobras merely spun his Black Hole Glaive around, shielding the arrows. “So you’re not treating me as a friend anymore?”, Cobras said. “Well then, you won’t mind if I do this.”, he said as he ran forward and began slashing at Scales viciously.

Slash swung his Cosmo Dagger at Structcon, who blocked it with his arm, which had shifted into diamond. “Did you forget about my elemental manipulation abilities?”, he mocked.

“Actually, I didn’t.”, Slash said as Structcon’s other arm generated the astral image of a gorilla and punched him back. “In fact, we were waiting for you to do that.”

Proton swung his Burning Calibur down on the diamond arm, causing it to heat up and knock the modified Commanaga back. “Diamonds don’t stand up well to fire, do they?”

“That’s okay.”, Structcon stated as he stood back up. “I can also counter your fire with a fire engine.” He sprayed a torrent of water, against which Proton struggled. “And I’ll combine it with the quills of a porcupine.” He fired spikes from his hand which knocked Slash down. “I guess I can deal with those other two now.” He turned towards Jiro and Mila, generating a cutlass which he threw at the two with the speed of a bullet train.

“Come on, Yuri.”, Slash said under his breath. “Where are you?”

* * *

In the armoury, Myron and Heath were looking at old Ranger weapons. “Wow, some of these weapons are pretty old.”, Myron said, positively geeking out as he examined some of them, including a white, tube shaped sword with a folded hilt. “Is that sword capable of cutting at tachyon speed?”

“Very likely.”, Heath said, keeping his composure. “Nevertheless, I can’t see us having enough time to train the troops in using these weapons.” He examined a sword which had the blade raised, revealing a hole for a battery. “And most of these weapons can’t really be put to much use on their own.”

“What about this?” Myron pulled out a silver-handgun with a detachable circular head and a flip phone shaped like a lion’s head. “This looks pretty easy to use, but sophisticated enough to cause damage.”

“Nevertheless, the phone looks like an important part of the weapon.”, Heath lamented. “If only the original user was still here.”

“That’s it.”, Myron realised. “Do we still have that reanimiser?”

“Yes we do.”, Heath said, at first confused, but soon realising what his brother was referring to. “I see what you’re suggesting.” He grabbed the reanimiser from a nearby shelf as Myron set the three pieces down. “Let’s do it.”

He blasted the three parts, causing them to regenerate as a humanoid robot, with elements resembling a lion and a a Power Ranger. He had a three-part crest on his forehead. “I am Robo Knight, defender of the Earth.” Robo Knight then took the opportunity to look around his surroundings. “Where am I?”

“You’re at Providence Base.”, Myron informed him. “We’re trying to uphold the Earth’s peace, much like you. But we’re currently under attack by those that would harm the Earth and enslave it’s population.”

“Say no more.” Robo Knight put his hand up. “I laid down my life once to save this planet and I will do so again.” He stood up and walked out of the room.

“Okay then.”, Heath stated. “Let’s see who else we can reanimate to help us.”

* * *

In his mind space, Yuri was conversing with the lion. “So I was told that using this new Cosmo Sphere requires a large amount of Cosmic Energy to use. And I was thinking that since you’re incredibly powerful…”

“ ** _That I possessed the necessary amount to use the new Sphere._** ”, the lion finished for him. “ ** _Well you’d be correct in assuming that. I arranged for Big Bang-315 to be created for your use exclusively.”_**

Yuri was surprised to hear this. “YOU created this new sphere? For me? Why?”

“ ** _Because your true power has lain dormant for too long._** ”, came the answer. “ ** _You were supposed to inherit the power of Orion-13, the warrior. But due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to save your life and give you the power of Lion-01. But the new sphere will not just allow you to use your true powers in conjunction with your old ones, but the abilities of your fellow defenders.”_**

As the words echoed, Yuri’s mind returned to consciousness. “I know what I must do.”, he said as he left the control room.

* * *

Outside, Jiro and Mila were fighting a losing battle against Structcon. “You have no chance of victory.”, he gloated. “Thanks to battle data, your weapons are all ineffective against me.”

“But mine aren’t.” Structcon was knocked back by a shot from behind. Jiro and Mila turned around to see the figure of Robo Knight standing there. “You can get to safety. It’s my turn now.” He converted his Lion Blaster into it’s sword mode and ran forward to deliver a series of slashes to his opponent.

“Who’s this guy?”, Jiro asked. “Are we being replaced?”

“You’re not being replaced.”, the voice of Commander Goodman called out from behind them, as she walked forward. “He’s just going to be helping you out, like I am.”

“What can you do?”, Mila asked. “Because no offence, Commander, but you’re just a regular human.”

“Oh I’m more than a regular human.”, Goodman said as she pulled out a bracelet. She pressed a button on it, causing it to flash. “Let’s Fly.” A wireframe formed around her, which turned into a blue and white suit, with a swallow-themed helmet. “It’s good to be back.”, she said.

From the side, Proton was shocked to see this. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting anything like that.”, he said.

Cobras on the other hand was less than impressed. “Is that all you can offer to challenge me? I’m not scared.”

“You should be.”, Goodman said as she ran forward to face him. She pulled out a sword similar to the one that Myron had been admiring and crossed it with Cobras’ Black Hole Glaive. She then jumped backwards, deploying a set of wings to glide safely to the ground. “Now let’s see how you like this.” She deployed a gauntlet and ran back towards Cobras, punching him backwards.

Across the field, Robo Knight had made short work of Structcon. “It’s no good.”, the Commanaga grumbled. “Everything I try, this thing has a countermeasure.”

“Time to end this.”, Robo Knight said as he plugged his Robo Morpher onto the Lion Blaster, and inserted a card, inputting the code.

**Summon Vulcan Cannon!**

Robo Knight plugged the add-on onto his weapon and inserted another card, inputting the code. “Knight Dynamic!”

Goodman had also made short work of her opponent. “You fought well kid, but you can’t beat a pro like me.” She pulled out a pair of blasters, one red, one white, and inserted them together. “You’re going down.”

_Fire Attack! Strike Out!_

The two Rangers hit their foes, causing a pair of explosions. Structcon was knocked back by the first. “You insolent. Not only is my implant shot to heck, but I only have enough energy left for one generation.”

Cobras on the other hand, was standing tall as ever. “Oh didn’t I mention? I still have access to the Cosmo Sphere deployment system.” He pulled out the Defend-24 Sphere. “That attack barely singed me.”

Goodman and Robo Knight were shot down by a blast from an arriving Tricerodo. “You’re not playing fair.”, she mockingly scolded them, like some evil mother. “Rangers who don’t have Cosmo Spheres aren’t allowed in this battle.”

“I guess that gives me an all-access pass.” Everyone turned to see Yuri arriving, who held up the Big Bang-315 Cosmo Sphere. “After all, I have the strongest Cosmo Sphere in the universe in the palm of my hand.”

The other Rangers were shocked to see this. “Yuri, don’t do it.”, Slash urged. “You know what Myron said. It would burn you up…”

“…if I didn’t have a large amount of Cosmic Energy. And guess what?”, Yuri added as his eyes glowed red. “I do.”

“Of course, the lion.”, Scales realised. “Yuri’s going to tap into him to use the Sphere.”

“It won’t save you from your fate.”, Cobras insisted as he fired at Yuri using his Morpher.

However, Yuri pressed the Sphere, inserted it into his Morpher and pressed the button again, creating a field of Cosmic Energy around him, which protected him. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He spun the ring on the Sphere. The “planets” on the ring flew off and surrounded him. His regular Ranger suit appeared, but all but the logo and the visor turned white, with the belt turning gold. Red neon lines formed down the side, as a collar with a cape appeared around Yuri’s neck, onto which the planets attached. The the lion insignia mirrored itself, with the original gaining red lines and the mirror image closing its mouth. With the transformation complete, the field dissipated, revealing Yuri’s new form. “The Warrior of the Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

Everyone was shocked by this new turn of events. Except for Cobras, who was furious. “Light, hmm? You should know that darkness destroys the light. Detainers, attack!”

As the Detainers charged at Yuri, he pressed the top of the Sphere twice, causing it to glow orange. He summoned a Cosmonata and began attacking the grunts with it, while his cape compressed into a smaller shape and struck at others. “That’s Myron’s power.”, Mila realised. “Why is Yuri using it?”

Yuri didn’t answer, instead spinning the wheel of his Big Bang Sphere again. “Scorpion Cutting!” He span around as the Cosmonata, charged with orange energy, slashed at the Detainers’ helmets, restoring them to human.

Tricerodo whistled, summoning a pair of Commanagas. “Boys, get him.”

As the Commanagas attacked, Yuri pressed the top another 6 times. He jumped into the air, his cape acting as wings, and fired at the two with a Cosmo Blaster. “That looks like what Winda normally uses.”, Slash realised.

“It’s like Yuri has the powers of all the Rangers in one Cosmo Sphere.”, Proton suggested.

Yuri then spun his wheel again. “Aquila Eagle Blast!” He fired a beam of pink energy at the two Commanagas, destroying them.

Cobras snarled at this. “Fine, I’ll take you on myself.” He inserted his Black Hole Sphere into his Morpher and pulled it back. “But we’ll do it in my house.” He fired a beam, which turned into a vortex that sucked the two Rangers inside.

* * *

** Inside the Black Hole. **

Yuri landed, taking in the black and the mist that surrounded him. “It’s like a Gaku Zone in here.”, he commented.

“That’s because it is.”, Cobras leapt down and swung his Black Hole Glaive at Yuri. “Which means that my power is increased while I’m in here.”

“In that case, I’m not going to overpower you.”, Yuri said. “I’ll just have to make an emotional appeal.” He began pressing the button, only for a blow from Cobras to cause him to press it again. This resulted in him getting Tarrant’s Cosmo Axe and the accompanying super strength. “Not what I was after.”, he said as he swung the axe at Cobras.

As Cobras recovered from the hit, he growled. “You’re not going to leave this place alive.”

“I’ve been hearing that all day.”, Yuri said as he pressed the button twice more, turning invisible and dodging the swing from Cobras. “Tell me, what’s brought about this sudden hatred of us? Yeah, we were ignoring you, but that’s more insensitivity than an outright offence.”

“Didn’t you hear me earlier?”, Cobras fumed. “Tricerodo promised me revenge for the destruction of Matoine.”

“But Tricerodo was the one who destroyed it in the first place.”

“What?”, Cobras said with confusion. In that moment, Yuri reappeared and hit him with Mila’s Cosmo Blade.

“That’s right, she set up a situation wherein she could manipulate you.”, Yuri said as he pressed his button again, this time summoning Scales’ Cosmo Rifle. “And since we were trapped on Earth, we couldn’t do anything. But believe me, if we could’ve done something about it, we’d go back to Matoine with you and Scales to fix it.” He fired a blast at Cobras, knocking him back.

“Yes, you would.”, Cobras said, regaining his lucidity. Then the Gingaku Morpher let out black smoke that caused him to convulse in pain, before returning to his previous angry state. “ ** _I’m going to crush you!_** ”, he called out.

“Of course.”, Yuri realised. “That Morpher releases the same gas as the stuff Tricerodo sprayed those humans with. No wonder he’s so furious. She’s been overdosing him on that stuff.” He pressed the button twice more, summoning Cobras’ Cosmo Scythe. “There’s only one thing I can do to free him.” He span the wheel again, before swinging the Scythe back. “Ophiuchus Serpent Cutting!” He surrounded the weapon with silver energy and brought it down on the Gingaku Morpher, causing sparks.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

The onlookers watched as Yuri reappeared, with a demorphed Cobras. The Gingaku Morpher and Void Sphere fell to the side, with the former exploding into pieces. “Noo!”, Tricerodo yelled. “He broke my control.”

“Yuri did it.”, Scales said triumphantly. “He managed to reach out to Cobras.”

“He sure did.”, Cobras said as he got up. “I’m sorry about trying to scrap you earlier.”, he said to his friend. “Nice suit.”, he said to Yuri, before turning to face down Tricerodo. “You. You turned me into your puppet to use me against my friends.”

“But of course.”, Tricerodo giggled. “I figured you were a Ranger when I found you all those years ago. So I’ve been planning to find you and make you my puppet for a long time.”

“Why you!”, Cobras fumed, this time genuinely. “You’ll pay.”

“You’ll need this.”, Mila said, presenting Cobras with his Serpent-06 Sphere, which she picked up earlier. “You dropped it.”

“Than you.”, Cobras said as he picked up he Sphere and slid it into formation, summoning his Cosmo Morpher, into which he inserted the Sphere. “Cosmic Energy, Unelash!” He pulled the Sphere forward and fired, transforming once more into the Silver Ranger.

All the Ranger except Jiro got back up. “We’re here for you, Cobras.”, Proton said.

“We’ll leave this to you guys.”, Goodman said as Robo Knight nodded.

The Rangers charged into battle with Tricerodo, Structcon and two more Commanagas. Mila took a swing at Tricerodo, who dodged, only to get caught by Yuri’s cape. “Hey, that’s not fair.”

“Neither is stealing our friend.”, Yuri said as he pulled the General towards him and kicked her back. She took another swing at him with her staff, but Yuri caught it, before disappearing into a portal and reappearing to knock her back.

“Wow, Yuri’s really good with that power.”, Mila stated.

Yuri pulled his Cosmo Saber out of a portal after pressing his button. He swung it at her a few times, before sending her through a portal and spinning his wheel. “Leo Lion Slash!” He hit her with enough force to knock her down.

Elsewhere, Slash dodged out of the way as Mila fired on a Commanaga, reappearing on the wall of a nearby house. She leapt down and dodged a hit from the other one, who Proton soon took care of. “You won’t take this Control Gear back.”, he declared as he slashed his opponent.

Elsewhere, Scales dodged out of the way of Structcon’s blasts. “My motherboard could hit better than you.”, the robot declared.

Then Cobras appeared and began slashing at the modified Commanaga. “Not so tough when your powers are limited.”, he said as he pushed at his opponent.

“Allow me to help.”, Scales said as he joined in, with both swinging their weapons at their opponent.

“This is hardly sporting.”, Structcon said, before jumping at the two, only to be stopped. The two then kicked him into a tree. “Ow.”

“Don’t mess with our partnership.”, the two Rangers declared. As Structcon angrily jumped at his opponent, the two Rangers prepared their finisher with their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” The two fired their beams, blowing him up.

Across the field, Proton prepared his own finisher. “Burning Calibur!”

Mila joined him with her own. “Cosmic Energy Strike!”

As did Slash. “Cosmic Energy Slice!”

The three final attacks hit the two Commanagas, destroying them.

“Cobras, why don’t you give that witch what she derserves?”, Scales said, pointing at Tricerodo’s direction. Cobras nodded and set off running as his partner collapsed from mechanical fatigue.

As Tricerodo continued to struggle with the Big Bang Ranger, Cobras appeared as she was knocked down. “It’s time I thanked you for giving me new power.”, he said as he picked up the Void Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. “Dark Energy, Unleash!” He pushed it forward, transforming again. This time, he lacked the eye on the chest and the red highlight that the evil Void Ranger had possessed. “Silver Ranger, Void Mode!”

“Let’s do this together.”, Yuri suggested. “The light and the dark, working together.”

“Agreed.”, Cobras said as he inserted another item he picked up from his evil tenure. “Black Hole Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He activated his final attack function, with Yuri doing the same thing by pressing his button, causing his Sphere to glow in 9 colours.

“Big Bang Energy Blast!”

“Black Hole Final Attack!”

The two Rangers fired their beams at Tricerodo, surrounding her with flames. “I can’t go down like this.” But she did.

“This Control Gear is ours.”, Cobras said as the other Rangers approached.

“Deffo.”, Scales added.

Cobras reverted to his normal mode. “Tricerodo won’t let herself go down that easily.”, he noted.

Indeed, the Right General had survived the attack and ran over to Cobras. “Don’t think this is over between us.”, she said, before running away. “I’ll be back.” She surrounded herself with black mist, disappearing.

Then Structcon staggered forward, still crackling. “I’ll use the last of my powers to do this.” He summoned a giant copy of the Void Ranger, but with black replacing most of the colours, before he expired, his body exploding.

“Let’s take his fake down.”, Proton said as he clutched his Galaxy Saber. “Voyager, Take Off!”

Everyone summoned their Zords, with the others all appearing and combining as one once more. “Zodiac Megazord, ready!”

The black Void Ranger brought his Black Hole Glaive down on the Megazord, which shrugged it off, along with most of his hits.

“We’ll handle this.”, Cobras said as he and Scales split off, forming their separate Zords and pointing their cockpits forward. “Shining Strike!”

The clone was buffeted by this, falling on his chest. “Good work, now let’s end this.”, Proton said as he prepped his Galaxy Saber.

“Cosmic Burning Master Blast!” The Zodiac blasted the black Void Ranger with its twin beams, destroying it. “This Space is ours.”

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku was laughing at the events that had transpired, much to Dark Soul’s confusion. “You’re not mad at Tricerodo’s failure, my Lord?”, he asked.

“No.”, he responded. “Because while my link with the Silver Ranger is cut off, I still absorbed a large amount of Cosmic Energy from him.” He stood up and threw off his cloak, revealing his body was glowing. “And it was enough for me to transform into a new form.” The glow cleared to reveal a white-armoured figure in a green robe with his emblem on it. He also had a head with a long beak and 4 wings sticking out of it. “The Power Rangers don’t stand a chance against my new power.” He gloated as a pair of wings generated on his back, as he continued to laugh.

* * *

** Corona City, Earth. **

Tricerodo stumbled forward. “Those blasted Rangers.”, she fumed. “They won’t beat me the next time.”

“There won’t be a next time.” Tricerodo looked up to see Coiloga standing in front of her. “You’ve had you shot and now it’s my turn.“

“That’s not how it works.”, Tricerodo stated. “I’m entitled to two more chances before you get your shot.”

Coiloga blasted her with a beam, which caused her to collapse. “I knew you’d say that. Which is why I had the EMP ready.”

“EMP?”, Tricerodo blurted out, her voice gaining static. “That can’t be. I’m…?”

“A robot, indeed.”, Coiloga finished for her. “As am I and as was Katseayor. We’re all components of a larger creation and I intend to bring us back together once more. I know you’d resist, which is why I’m sending you back to Dr. Cerebron to remove your pesky personality.” Tricerodo vanished in a blue light. “Now this planet will meet its end at the hands of my genius.”, he said breaking out into laughter.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

Winda and Barry came out of their repair bay/ward to be greeted by the rest of the Rangers. “What happened?”, Winda asked. “Did you manage to get Cobras back to our side?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”, Cobras himself said standing forward. “And I took a little souvenir from my time with Gingaku.” He held up the two new Cosmo Spheres he had brought with him. “Now two of us have new powers.”

“Wait, two of us?”, Barry asked.

“Indeed.”, Myron nodded. “Yuri figured out how to use the new Cosmo Sphere and gained access to all of our powers at once.”

“That’s amazing.”, Barry replied.

“I know.”, Yuri said. “And I’m not the only one who had something surprising to share.” He turned to Commander Goodman. “Are you going to tell us about that little suit of yours?”

Goodman sighed, resigned to the fact that her secret was out.

* * *

But what became of Robo Knight, you ask? Well, Heath managed to use Chronos-14 to build a rudimentary time machine that would return him to his own era. As he stepped out of the portal, he found all of Earth’s Power Rangers up to that point charging into battle with an army of X-Borgs, the servants of his old enemies, the Armada. He wasted no time joining the battle, getting greeted with a line from his former ally, the Megaforce Red Ranger. “Hello, old friend.”

“Glad to be back.”, Robo Knight responded as he joined the battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 31 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Structcon’s name and powers are a reference to Kamen Rider Build, who he shares a colour scheme with. 
> 
> This was a hard chapter to write, since I had to make a lot of it original “footage” to go with my change in plot.


	26. Attack of the Shooting Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coiloga attacks Earth with a powerful ship, which Yuri discovers an incredible secret about.

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

Gingaku was preparing a broadcast for the whole universe. “Are you so sure about this, my Lord.”, Dark Soul asked. “Surely the Rangers will be able to trace the signal back to this planet and destroy our empire?”

“Let them come.”, Gingaku said proudly. “I can handle the Rangers with the new power I have attained.”

“ _I don’t think the Rangers will be a problem_.”, Coiloga responded via a hologram. “ _My project is now complete. I can reduce the Rangers to a memory with just a word from you.”_

“Do it.”, Gingaku nodded. “But give them an hour. I’ll use the window to deliver my broadcast.”

“ _By your command_.”, Coiloga bowed his head, signing off.

“Keep an eye on him.”, Gingaku said to Dark Soul, concerning his general. “I know what he did to Tricerodo and I have an idea of what he’s planning. I just need you to let me know when he makes his move.”

“As you wish.”, Dark Soul bowed his head and left the room. “And speaking of Tricerodo, what will become of her body?”

“She may have failed to secure the Earth, but she still proved to be useful. I want her reactivated. I have a new assignment for her.”

* * *

** Planet Moriturus **

Coiloga approached his lieutenant, Tensil. She was an alien with a golden collar around her neck, large shoulder pads that stretched onto her back, a bellowing black cloak with a purple inside and armour surrounding her legs that had stars, squares, wave symbols, crosses and circles. “We have the go-ahead.”, Coiloga informed her. “Earth is to be destroyed after the hour.”

“Why are we waiting?”, Tensil asked. “In my experience, getting the job done quickly is the essence of a successful campaign. Remember our campaign against the Dark Wraiths of Planet Houma?”

“Very well. We hit them as soon as we entered their airspace and took the planet in half an hour. However, Gingaku wants to make a point to the universe, which he presumably wants the Rangers to be processing as we destroy them.”

“A sound strategy.”, Tensil stated as she turned towards her various technicians. “Good news, everyone. Today, your efforts will bear fruit. The Shooting Star ship will be deployed to destroy the planet Earth. All of you will be there to carry out the task.

Every one of the technics cheered, except for a figure in all black overalls which obscured even his face. He merely looked down at the object in his hand, a Cosmo Sphere with a golden frame, numbered “13”.

* * *

**The Control Gear, Earth.**

The Rangers ran into the main control room. “We’re here Commander. What’s the emergency?”, Yuri said.

“There’s no emergency.”, Commander Goodman answered him. “But we are receiving this message on all of our frequencies. We think you should see it.”

Pamela flicked a switch, causing the image of Gingaku’s new avian body to appear in hologram form. “ _Peoples of the universe, please heed my words carefully. I am Lord Gingaku, ruler of the universe.”_

The Rangers were all shocked to see this. “Something big must’ve happened.”, Jiro realised. “Gingaku never shows his face in public broadcasts. He’s always been in that hood of his.”

“Something seems…off.”, Winda noted. “When we were on Tempus, I went back to view Orbis during his prime as a warrior battling Proton here. He didn’t look like that figure.”

“Indeed.”, Proton concurred. “He looked like more of a demon. This guy seems to be more of an angelic alien.”

The transmission from Gingaku continued. “ _Some are saying that thanks to the efforts of the Cosmic Defender known as the Fire Knight…”_

“So we just don’t matter now?”, Slash asked.

“… _that the universe is slowly slipping from my control. Well those people are wrong. I have only grown stronger, to the point I feel assured in showing off my new form to the inhabitants of this universe. And be assured, I’m going to be sending in more warriors to ensure my power remains absolute. And to make this point, the planet Earth, the seat of resistance against my empire, will be destroyed by my newest weapon soon. And then, we will see, Fire Knight, who the real strongest of us is_.” He laughed, as the message terminated.

The Rangers and their allies were worried about the message that had been delivered. All except Heath, who said. “I’ll try to trace the source of that message. It might help the Rangers know where to go to stop Gingaku’s control for real.” With that said, he left the room.

“That won’t help us stop whatever’s being planned for Earth.”, Mila said. “We need to scan the planet’s orbit to find whatever new weapon Gingaku’s deployed and destroy it.”

“You don’t think it’s another Oblivion Cosmos, do you?”, Scales asked.

“It’s unlikely.”, Myron noted. “They’re not in the habit of reusing failed plans.”

“I found something.”, one of the technicians reported. “Three Dark Gears, all heading for the same location.”

“That’s all?”, Proton said cockily. “Well in that case, I’ll just go out there and deal with them myself.” He ran out of the room.

“Something’s up.”, Cobras thought. “They wouldn’t send something this small to destroy a planet.”

* * *

** Earth Orbit. **

From aboard the Shooting Star, Tensil watched as the three Dark Gears flew towards Earth. “The bait has been placed in the trap.”, she noted before turning to the assembled technics, all of different species and builds. “Now then troops, the time has come for our attack on Earth. While the ship is moved into position, you all will be turned into Detainers and sent down to the planet to provide a distraction for the Power Rangers. Some of you won’t make it back, but I will ensure that those who don’t return will receive full honours. Are you ready to lay down your lives for the good of the cause?” The technics all cheered. “Good, I like your attitude, soldiers. You’ve all been drafted.” She threw Detainer helmets onto all of them, causing a mass conversion. Tensil then teleported down to the planet with her new conscripts.

Now Coiloga was left alone, save for the technic in black. “You weren’t among the rank and file slaves.”, Coiloga said to him. “Can I ask why?”

“I need to maintain this ship.”, the technic replied. “Making sure it’s ready to carry out its purpose.”

“Ha, I like the way you think.”, Coiloga chuckled. “You get to work maintaining the engines. I’ll work on directing the ship.”

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Inside the lab, Yuri, Myron, Cobras, Mila, Slash and Barry were standing around, as Heath shared his findings. “In order to beam that signal out here, Gingaku would’ve needed a remote transmitter to receive the signal and send it towards us. So while I’ve not been able to locate their Brainworld…”

“You managed to find the location of their transmitter.”, Barry finished for him. “Which means that if we can get there, we can get the coordinates.”

“Hang on.”, Slash pointed out. “Weren’t you once a part of Gingaku? Can’t you just tell us where they are?”, he asked Heath.

“My… memory is missing some parts.”, Heath said sheepishly. “As you know my mind was being twisted by-” his machine pinged. “Ah, we’ve found the signal. It’s right - here.”

The map showed a point in space above the Earth. “That’s odd.”, Mila realised. “The scanners says there’s nothing at that point. So either your machine is wrong, or…”

“Or they have a cloaking device that renders them invisible to scanners.”, Myron concluded. “I’m putting my money on the latter.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out the answer.”, Yuri said, pulling out his Big Bang Sphere and activating it. “I use my powers as the Big Bang Ranger to get us up to that point.” He inserted the Sphere into his Morpher, pressed it again and spun it around, morphing into his ultimate form. He then waved his arm, generating a portal. “Shall we?”

The others nodded and all proceeded into the portal. “Good luck everyone.”, Heath said.

* * *

Elsewhere, the three Dark Gears and a command ship came down, to be met with the Fire Voyager. “You’re going down, creeps.” The Fire Voyager transformed into this Megazord mode. It touched down to be surrounded by three Gearoids. “This might be a challenge.”, Proton thought to himself. As one Gearoid fired at him, the Fire Voyager used its swords to reflect the beams onto the other two opponents. “Burning Double Calibur!” The Fire Voyager used its swords to destroy the first Gearoid. However, the other two recovered, concentrating their fire on their enemy.

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Tensil teleported down with her army. “They may have changed their location, but they can’t hide.”, she stated. “All I need to do is scan the planet for a structure of appropriate weight and size.”

“Clever tactics.” Tensil was shot back by the arrival of Scales. “Too bad we figured you’d pull something like that and planned an ambush.”

Tensil laughed at Scales. “One lone Android is an ambush? I worry for your strategists, if this is the best they can come up with.”

“I’m not alone.”, Scales commented. As if on cue, Jiro jumped out of the bushes and knocked some of the Detainers down, while Winda flew overhead and shot at more of them. “Alright guys, good job. Winda, who’re we up against?”

“That would be Lieutenant Tensil. She’s one of the greatest warriors in the universe.”, Winda radioed back. “She successfully put down several rebellions during the early days of Gingaku’s rule over the universe.”

Tensil became intrigued. “You seem remarkably well informed of my exploits.”

“I was a server droid under the control of Planetary Controller Metaro.”, Winda replied. “I still have access to Gingaku’s network, as I discovered while performing diagnostics recently.”

“Oh, is that so?”, Tensil asked. “Well, in that case, I’ll bring you back over to our cause with this.” She pulled out a button and pressed it. Winda plummeted to the ground, clutching her head in pain. “It’s a little control virus that overrides a robot’s will, making them my loyal slave.” Winda stood up, walked over to Tensil and curtsied. “Now then my little robot Ranger, kill the others.”

“ _ **Yes, Mistress**_.”, Winda said in a synthesised monotone. She began firing on Scales and Jiro, who had both finished with the Detainers. “ ** _Destroy, Destroy, Destroy!_** ” Tensil laughed as she watched the scene.

* * *

** Onboard the Shooting Star, Earth. **

Yuri and his team ran into the control room of the ship. “Well this has been easy.”, Barry said cheerily. “We haven’t run into any form of enemy at all.”

As if on cue, Coiloga appeared from a hiding place. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”, asked Mila.

“So, the Power Rangers have found my secret weapon.”, Coiloga noted. “You’re much quicker on the draw than I gave you credit for. Nice suit, Red Ranger.”

“Cut the chit-chat, creep.”, Yuri said, barely concealing his rage. “I have a score to settle with you and I intend to see it through.” He summoned Jiro’s Cosmo Claw using his Big Bang Sphere and began swinging it at Coiloga.

Coiloga blocked the attack. “Ah yes, you want to know what I did to your friend, don’t you? I believe it went something like this.” He brought his claw down on Yuri, knocking him back. “Do you know how many people I’ve victimised, other than you and your friend?”

“Why you!”, Myron said, pulling out his Unicorn-27 Sphere and inserting it. “Plus Up!” He transformed into the Orange Ranger in Double Sting Form. He then began swinging his arm at Coiloga, who matched him blow-for-blow.

“Ah yes, you must be Myron. Your brother spoke of you often.”, Coiloga said, hoping to take his enemy off guard.

Instead, it just increased his rage. “How do you know my brother?”, Myron yelled.

“You think it was fate that brought your brother to Gingaku after his body was infected by Jiprak’s influence? I scouted him out and invited him into our little club. But I had no idea he’d try to take over the universe himself.”

Myron ignored this last part, instead attacking more ferociously, which Coiloga used to knock him down.

Cobras was next to take a shot at Coiloga, using his new Void Sphere. “Dark Energy, Unleash! There’s nothing you say that Tricerodo hasn’t already said.”

“Don’t leave me out of this.”, Mila said, pulling out the Dual Sphere and placing it in her Morpher on the Sun side. “Hyper Plus Up!”

The two Rangers engaged in battle with Coiloga. “Ah yes, the last Raynaga and the lost chameleon who thinks she’s a ninja. The Raynagas were a particularly troublesome bunch of aliens, so I got told to get rid of them. And you, little ninja. Do you ever wonder what happened to those fellows of yours who you saved from the carnage?”

Mila was momentarily shook by this. “I… They got to a safe place.”

“Indeed they did… until I found and dealt with them.”, Coiloga laughed, as he overpowered the two opponents.

Finally, Barry and Slash went in, both in their regular forms. “You’re responsible for all of our suffering?”, Slash asked as he crossed his Dagger with his enemy’s claw. “Why?”

“Because it amuses me to see others suffer.”, Coiloga laughed. “Like when I told an officer that you, a reputable restauranteur, had spoken out against Gingaku. And young Barry, do you ever wonder what happened to your parents? I have them in a mine somewhere, though I forced them to give you up first.” He then slashed at those last two. “And besides, your anger makes you less willing to work together, which makes it easier for me to overpower you individually.”

“He’s right.”, Yuri realised. “We need to take him on together, not as individuals. He can’t take us all at once by himself.”

“Who said I was by myself?”, Coiloga asked, as the lone technic in black entered the room. “Now then, my friend. Attack the enemy.” The technic nodded and shot at Coiloga with a familiar looking rifle. “Who are you?”

The technic threw off his clothes to reveal… “The Dragon Ranger, at your service.” He then turned to the other Rangers. “Nice suit, Yuri.”

“Thanks”, Yuri nodded. “I think I’ll show you what it can really do. You guys ready?”

“Ready.”, the other Rangers nodded.

Yuri summoned Myron’s Cosmonata and charged it with the Orange energy. Myron pulled out his weapon and inserted the Scorpion-03 Cosmo Sphere into it. “Double Scorpion Cutting!” The two unleashed their attacks on Coiloga. Cobras was the next to synchronise his weapon with Yuri’s. “Double Ophiuchus Serpent Cutting!” Two more blows were dealt to Coiloga as Mila joined forces with Yuri. “Double Chameleon Strike!” A pair of Cosmo Blades hit their mark. Then Yuri synced up with Slash with their Cosmo Daggers. “Double Dorado Swordfish Slice!” Two more slashes hit Coiloga.

Coiloga recovered from all of these quickly. “You can hit me with all you have, but it won’t be enough. I still control the ship that will seal Earth’s fate.”

“Not without your central cannon.”, Drago said, holding up a button, which he pressed. On the outside, the main cannon detached and drifted into the Sun.

“No!”, Coiloga cried.

“And that not all I’m going to hit you with.”, Drago said as he pointed his Dragon Staff in Rifle mode at the enemy. “Dragonic Break!”

Barry joined in with his own Cosmonata attack. “Cosmic Energy Slice!”

However, Coiloga still managed to survive these hits. “You haven’t seen the last of me.”, he growled as he teleported away. “I’ll be back.”

The Rangers all demorphed and embraced each other. “Commander, you’re alive.”, Mila said thankfully. “I thought I’d never see you again after you disappeared on Tempus.”

“It takes more than that to put me down.”, Drago said as he reciprocated her hug. “I got sent back over half a year, on a distant planet. I decided that I might as well get to work on helping the Rangers get a ship so we could overthrow Gingaku’s reign more easily. Luckily, Coiloga was looking for technics to work on his warship, so I decided to tweak the design slightly to benefit us.”

“You tweaked the ship to help us?”, Myron asked. “How?”

“Using this.”, Drago held out the Cosmo Sphere he had been hiding. “The Orion-13 Cosmo Sphere, which was the last major one to find it’s chosen Defender. I modified the ship so it could link up with the Zord to make it battle ready.”

“Don’t worry about finding the chosen Defender.”, Yuri said as he took the Sphere. “Now let’s see what this can do.” He inserted the Sphere into his Morpher and pushed it to the side. “Summon Zord.”

The Cosmo Sphere enlarged itself, flying into space and combining with a long shuttle-like attachment with a star-shaped cannon on the end. It flew down to Earth and began attacking the command ship. After landing a few shots, it came back to the Shooting Star and landed on it, causing it to gain more colours, a three point landing pad and tank treads. “Let’s take this baby into battle.”, Drago said as he manned the controls, taking it down to Earth.

* * *

As Proton took more punishment from the two Gearoids, he saw the ship approaching him. “I hope this is good news.”, he said to himself.

The Shooting Star once more flew towards the command ship. “Let’s take out that rustbucket.”, Yuri declared.

“I like your thinking.”, Drago said. “Fire!”

A claw-like attachment reattached the Orion-13 Sphere to the cannon part, charging it with energy that it unleashed upon the command ship, destroying it.

* * *

** Providence Base, Earth. **

The brainwashed Winda was still firing on her teammates. “We can’t stop her.”, Jiro said. “She’s too fast for us and we can’t fly.”

“I have an idea.”, Scales replied. He then stood out in front of Tensil. “Well madam, I must concede defeat. You’ve beaten us soundly and I accept execution.”

“How very brave of you.”, Tensil said. “You, robot. Touch down and prepare to fire.”

“ ** _Yes, Mistress_**.” The possessed Winda landed in front of Scales and pointed her Cosmo Blaster at him, inserting her Cosmo Sphere onto it. “ ** _Initiating Cosmic Energy Blast_**.” She fired the shot.

However, Scales ducked out of the way at the last second, causing the shot to hit Tensil instead. “You sneaky… I respect your cunning.”, Tensil said as she exploded from the hit.

However, her growth implant exploded, restoring her as a giant. But the desired effect of restoring Winda’s free will was achieved. “What happened?”, she asked. “Why is Tensil a giant?”

“No time to explain now.”, Jiro said. “Let’s get to safety.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Shooting Star ship shot at the two Gearoids, knocking them back. “Nice firepower, you guys.”, Proton radioed the ship, making an educated guess as to the pilots. “I’ll take it from here.” He charged up Fire Voyager’s weapons, allowing it to hit the two Gearoids with enough force to destroy them.

Then the giant Tensil appeared as Proton dispersed the Voyager. “If I won’t be destroying Earth with my weapons, then I’ll do it with my pure strength.”, she said as she slammed her hand down, almost hitting the Fire Knight.

“Allow me to deal with this.”, Yuri said, pulling out his Big Bang Sphere and inserting it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He transformed once more into the Big Bang Ranger, as his Sphere began glowing. Yuri pressed down on the Sphere. “Activate, Shooting Star Zord!” He span the wheel around.

Yuri was then portalled into the cockpit of Orion-13, which was attached to the main body as Yuri pressed and spun the Sphere again. The cannon took off, as the ship began to rotate itself, causing some momentary buffering within the main deck. The hull of the ship split in two to become legs and the cannon attached to the right thruster, with the front half folding forward and a second arm materialising on the left thruster. Finally, the plate on the engines retracted to reveal a face. “Shooting Star Megazord, ready!”

The Rangers inside the ship were amazed by this. “How are we even standing?”, Slash asked.

“I presume the bridge is on a rotating axis which allows it to be constantly upright.”, Myron theorised. “Either that, or artificial gravity.”

“Let’s do this.”, Yuri said as he moved the robot forward to face Tensil.

“You can’t defeat me, private.”, Tensil said as she used psychokinesis to move a pair of power lines to create a wrestling arena. “Now, let’s dance.”

As Tensil ran forward, Yuri brought the Shooting Star’s club down on her, before dealing more hits to her. When she knocked him into the lines, Yuri ignored the jolt and kept at it with the assault, eventually breaking the lines. Then Tensil generated a large blaster, which she fired at her opponent. “You’ll have to be quicker than that.”, Yuri said as he knocked the hits away to defend himself. However, the control system was damaged, causing the robot to move uncontrollably, smashing the ground. “I have to control this.”, Yuri thought to himself. “Before it results in us losing.” The Shooting Star then smashed a pair of pylons before hitting Tensil in her chest.

“Why you.”, Tensil declared as she ran forward, to be met with the fire from the robot’s head.

“Begin final attack!”, Yuri said as he pressed the top of the Sphere again, before spinning it. This summoned a cannon into his arms, which he aimed at Tensil. “You’re relieved, soldier. Big Bang Strike!” The Shooting Star Megazord charged all of its energy into its club, before pushing all of it towards the enemy.

The energy hit Tensil, knocking her back, as the head flames calmed down. “That was impressive, Soldier.”, she said as she exploded.

“This Space is ours.”, Yuri said.

* * *

** Gingaku Brainworld. **

In his lab, Dr. Cerebron received a message from Coiloga. “ _Doctor, is your little project ready yet?_ ”

“As a matter of fact, it is.”, Cerebron responded. “Thanks to the robotics information you provided. But I haven’t tested it.”

“ _I’m going to test it._ ”, Coiloga snapped. “ _But first, I’ll need you to make some modifications, in accordance with my specifications.”_

* * *

** The Control Gear, Earth. **

Having already loaded the Zords into the Shooting Star ship, the Rangers were loading other supplies into it. Pamela seemed slightly distraught over this. “Do you really have to go on this mission?”, she asked. “What if you don’t make it back?”

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.”, Myron informed her. “But for now, we can’t simply stay here on Earth and hold off every takeover attempt forever, especially since we can go into space once more.”

“So we’re going to launch an assault on the Gingaku Brainworld using our full power.”, Yuri continued. “Not to brag, but I think our chances are pretty good.”

“Even though you’re still down by one member?”, Commander Goodman asked as she came out of the Control Gear with another crate. “This should be the last of the supplies you need for your trip.”

“Thank you, Commander Goodman.”, Drago said. “You two’d better hurry along, or we’ll end up leaving you behind.”

“We’ll be along shortly.”, Yuri called out. He then put his hands on Pam’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”, he assured her. Then he and Myron entered the Shooting Star ship, which took off into the distant night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off episode 33 of Kyuranger.
> 
> This storyline was intended as a two-parter, but I couldn’t think of a suitable plot that didn’t involve a lot of padding. I briefly considered adding episode 32 to this, but couldn’t think of a way to organically connect the two plots. 
> 
> I know having Coiloga be behind much of the team’s misery feels slightly contrived, but I felt that giving him some enmity with everyone helped him to stand out amongst villains who are enemies to one, or have no personal enmity at all.
> 
> I made Magera a female because that’s what his design suggested and I wanted to add some diversity to the monsters of this fic.


	27. One Tarrant Too Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blocked from accessing the enemy’s home system, the Rangers seek out someone who can help overcome the problem, only to meet a surprise enemy: Tarrant.

**Unknown Planet.**

Coiloga was sitting around waiting when he saw a ship coming down. “That’ll be my delivery incoming.”, he said as he went over to where the craft had landed. When the door opened, he was disappointed with who emerged. “Dark Soul. What brings Gingaku's lackey out to my rescue?”

“This isn’t a straight rescue.”, Dark Soul answered. “Gingaku has grown suspicious of you and tired of your group’s lack of success. Especially since you lost your most powerful ship to the Rangers.”

“Don’t worry about that.”, Coiloga brushed off his fellow’s warnings. “Even if they found the location of our palace on the planet Black, they can’t access the system with the current stellar alignment. In the meantime, I can get to work on eliminating them. Did you bring the weapon I ordered from Dr. Cerebron?”

“I did.”, Dark Soul said, indicating the bull-like robot behind him. It was the Ranger’s robotic member Tarrant, only lacking the cloak, which revealed the presence of a cannon on his shoulder. “How did you get him under our control?”

“I had him connected to a control network created by Dr. Cerebron.”, Coiloga answered. “And I need your help in using him to destroy the Rangers.”

* * *

**Outside the Dark Nebula.**

Having found the location of the Gingaku Brainworld to be planet Black in the Dark Nebula, the 11 Rangers, along with their ally Heath, were on their way to attack it in the Shooting Star ship they had commandeered. “I can’t believe we’re about to do this.”, Mila said as she looked out at the stars.

“Very few could’ve dreamed of finding this planet, let alone launching an attack on it.”, Myron agreed.

“Today, Gingaku’s rule of the universe will end.”, Yuri concluded.

“Let’s go.”, Drago said, pointing his hand forward.

“Roger.”, Winda said as she operated the controls, taking them forward toward the Nebula. However once they reached the entrance, they were stopped by an invisible force. “Something’s wrong. We’re not getting through.”

Then an armada of Dark Gears and drones attacked the ship. “We can’t possibly fight all of them off.”, Proton said frantically. “We need to get out of here now.”

Winda nodded and turned the ship around, warp-jumping to another galaxy. “That was a close one.”

“Too bad we disconnected you from Gingaku’s central network after what Tensil did to you.”, Scales lamented to Winda. “We could really have used an explanation on why we were deflected.”

“It’s likely a cosmic thingy.”, Jiro suggested. “If only one of us had practical cosmic knowledge that could help us navigate that sector of space.”

“Dr. Cerebron once had an assistant who had a minor in cosmology.”, Heath spoke up. “She left his service before Myron was conscripted, but I think I came across a record of what planet she moved to.” He went over to the computer and brought up the planet. “That’s amazing, she just happened to move nearby to our current co-ordinates.”

“Then what’re we waiting for?”, Cobras asked. “Let’s go and ask for her help.”

* * *

From their ship, Dark Soul and Coiloga observed the computer. “Are you sure they’ll fall for our ruse?”, the former asked.

“Positive.”, Coiloga answered. “They’ll take any help they can get in breaching the Dark Nebula’s natural barrier. And then, we can spring our trap.”

* * *

**Planet A-60, Crane System.**

The Shooting Star ship appeared in orbit above the planet. Yuri, Myron, Jiro, Barry and Proton all took off for the planet with their Zords, while everyone else stayed on the ship. When the party landed, they saw the city around them, practically deserted. “Well, this should be easy.”, Barry said. “We just have to find someone who lives here and we’ve found our target.”

“Oh this place isn’t deserted.”, Myron said, indicating the various eyes looking out at them from the buildings. “It’s simply full of fear.”

One man walking by saw the Rangers, in particular the stat-shaped logo on the suits they had taken to wearing, and dropped his stuff, backing away. “Keep away.”, he said with fear. “I won’t let you get to me.”

“What’re you talking about?”, Yuri asked him. “We only just arrived here.”

“You may have.”, the man said. “But your friend’s been terrorising us for days now.”

“A friend?”, Jiro asked. “Of ours?”

“Yeah, a bull-like robot, with a lot of armour and a red blaster on his arm. With that exact same insignia as you guys are wearing.” And then, the man ran off in the other direction.

The other Rangers were worried by the description provided. “Is it just me, or does the “friend” he described sound a lot like Tarrant?”, Barry asked.

“It would be plausible.”, Proton answered. “We don’t know where he ended up when he got caught up in the Chronos effect. He could’ve ended up here.”

Myron however, was less willing to believe it. “No, it can’t be.”, he insisted. “Tarrant wouldn’t be attacking these people, he’s not like that.” He then shook off the thought. “We need to find Cerebron’s old assistant and get out of here.”

“How do you know about Dr. Cerebron?” Everyone turned to the source of the voice, an avian humanoid woman, with white feathers. “And how did you know I was here.”

“Let’s just say we have a mutual acquaintance.”, Yuri answered her. “I assume you’re the assistant we’re looking for.”

“Corvelia, at your service.”, the bird-woman bowed. “Now then, we should get out of here so we can discuss things a little easier.” The Rangers followed their new acquaintance into a building, unaware they were being observed by a mechanical onlooker.

_{{++++Power Rangers located. Initiate protocols. Start our mission.++++}}_

* * *

Up in orbit, the other Rangers received a call from Proton on the planet’s surface. “ _We’ve heard word of mouth from the locals that make it seem like our missing comrade Tarrant is on the planet causing mayhem._ ”

The other Rangers were confused by this. “That doesn’t sound like Tarrant.”, Slash commented. “Unless they’re Gingaku, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Well he was built to be a weapon of destruction.”, Heath commented. “Maybe something happened to make his original programming kick in. Like how Winda was reprogrammed to work against us.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”, Winda said with some annoyance.

“ _Nevertheless, I think we should run a sweep of the planet_.”, Proton continued. “ _That way, we can be certain if this is the real deal, or a misnomer._ ”

“How can we do that?”, Mila asked. “Tarrant doesn’t have any DNA to single out. And who knows how many robots are on that planet.”

“We won’t be searching for DNA.”, Cobras answered her. “At least, I assume we won’t.”, he said this to the Commander.

“Indeed.”, Drago nodded. “We’re going to search for the energy signature of Bull-05, which we have a copy of thanks to both the All Zords and Big Bang Spheres.”

“In that case, this’ll be easy.”, Scales exclaimed. He picked up the All Zords Sphere, scanned it and went over to the computer. “This process should only take about a few seconds.” Sure enough, after a few seconds, he recoiled in shock. “Oh no, this seems bad.”

“What? What is it?”, Winda asked.

“According to this, Tarrant is on that planet. And he’s heading your way, Proton.”

“We should get down there.”, Mila said, to which Slash nodded in agreement. They pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and were about to Morph, when Drago stopped them.

“Before you do anything rash, how about you help me test something out?”, Drago asked. “I’ve installed a system to launch the Zords from this ship much faster than if you summoned them yourself. And I want you to help me test it out.”

* * *

Back on the planet, the Rangers had sat down and begun to speak with Corvelia. “So, what caused you to leave Dr. Cerebron?”, Yuri asked her. “Was it like Myron here, where you realised how much of a slimy creep he was?”

“Oh definitely, but without the ‘murder’ thing.”, Corvelia answered him. “He had me help him out with a project to create a new creature for Gingaku, to supposedly bring harmony to the universe. I should’ve known something was wrong when he named it ‘the Terrorvore’ and used DNA from a Hadaruga to catalyse its evolution. When we unleashed the beast, it proved disobedient, wiping out the entire population of a planet within a month. While Lord Gingaku rightfully shut down the project and ordered the creatures be destroyed, Cerebron was only concerned on how far he was being set back. That was the last straw that made me come here.”

It was then that Proton returned from his communication with the ship. “I’ve had a scan done over the planet. It turns out that Tarrant IS on the planet. And that he’s nearby.”

As if on cue, the building was rocked by an outside force. “I think that’ll be him.”, Barry said as the Rangers headed out, leaving Corvelia behind.

* * *

The group headed outside, where they saw Coiloga. “I knew you’d come here, Rangers.”, he gloated. “Cerebron’s former assistant is the best cosmologist on record. It stood to reason you’d turn to her.”

“Cut the chit-chat.”, Myron said angrily. “Is it true? Is Tarrant on his planet and attacking these people?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Coiloga indicated to the figure of Tarrant, standing behind him. Only now he was lacking the cloak over his right shoulder, exposing a shoulder cannon. “Let’s just say that we’ve restored him to factory settings. He’s one of us now, as he should’ve always been.”

Before anyone could do anything, Tarrant was shot back by a figure from above. When everyone looked that way, they saw a figure in a red mask with his left arm wrapped in something and a golden belt on his chest. “No problemo, freundes. I’ll take care of this diayaku.”, he said, switching between 4 separate accents. He jumped down to confront Coiloga and the supposed Tarrant. “You sir, j’accuse of being a fake.”

The Rangers realised who the newcomer was off the bat. “Only one person I know would butcher so many languages as a cover identity.”, Barry realised.

“That’s a fake.”, Proton said as he pointed at Coiloga’s robotic helper. “The real Tarrant is over here.”

“Non, I am ja nai Tarrant. Je mapelle Der Toro.”, the newcomer insisted. “I’ve never met you before.”, he said unconvincingly.

“Well, I guess we were mistaken.”, Jiro said dismissively. “He’s obviously some newcomer.”

Myron facepalmed. “Are you serious?”, he asked.

The Tarrant with Coiloga fired on the newcomer, who took the hit and ran forward to kick him. “Der Toro” then fired his laser at the robot, surrounding it with flames. “That takes care of that.”, he said.

{ _++++Camouflage shell compromised. Damage minimal++++_ } As everyone looked on, the robot had withstood the hit, but had now been reduced to a skeletal appearance that lacked the Morpher.

“Ah, I see you’ve discovered my fake a lot faster than I would’ve thought.”, Coiloga said. “You’re looking at Dr. Cerebron’s latest and greatest creation, the Neo-Bullroid. A successor to your friend Tarrant here, but with none of his weaknesses.”

“I said I wasn’t this handsome Tarrant guy.”, “Der Toro” declared as he once more charged at the Neo-Bullroid. The robot fired again, barely missing its target and beginning a path of destruction.

 _{++++Primary objective: destroy! Destroy! DESTROY!++++}_ The Neo-Bullroid began firing wildly, with the Rangers narrowly dodging the destruction it caused. Barry was knocked back, using his Zord cockpit to fly to safety before he hit the ground, but the others managed to morph and run forward.

But they were blocked by “Der Toro”. “I said to allow me to handle this.”, he said as he grappled with the robot.

“That leaves all of you to me.”, Coiloga said as he began grappling with the 4 Rangers, managing to block most of their hits.

* * *

Elsewhere, “Der Toro” and the Neo-Bullroid had moved away from the fighting and towards an abandoned location. “I won’t allow you to carry on Dr. Cerebron’s legacy.”, he said as he continued the fight. He dodged out of the way as the Neo-Bullroid fired again.

 _{++++Compatible hardware detected. Downloading control software++++}_ “Der Toro” was surrounded by sparks as he began to convulse. However, he managed to resist long enough to ram the enemy into a building, before beginning to smash up the scenery under his new directives. { _++++Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!++++_ }

Myron and Jiro came running from around the corner. “What’s happened to him?”, Jiro asked. “He’s going crazy.”

“Of course, he’s using the same software from when we activated him.”, Myron realised. “The Neo-Bullroid used that to send it’s programme to its older brother, kind of like sharing files on ICloud.”

But “Der Toro” couldn’t hear them anymore, turning and firing on the two Rangers. _{++++Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!++++}_

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri and Proton prepared their weapons for a finishing move against Coiloga. “Double Burning Attack!”

However, Coiloga took the two hits and emerged unscathed. “Was that supposed to hurt?”, he asked sarcastically.

“That normally works.”, Proton commented.

“Too bad.”, Coiloga said as he charged at the two, slashing them down with their own energy.

“He used our own attacks against us.”, Proton wheezed as he got back up.

“Exactly.”, Coiloga declared as he put a sword to his shoulder. “Let’s see what else you can hit me with.l

“You’re on.”, Yuri said as he pulled out his Dual Sphere and inserted the “sun” side into his Morpher. “Hyper Plus Up!”

Coiloga was blinded by a flash, which cleared to reveal the Rangers had vanished. “That smarts.”, he said angrily.

* * *

Elsewhere, Myron and Jiro were still trying (and failing) to deal with the out of control robot that they had both worked out was really Tarrant. _{++++Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!++++}_

Myron ran over to Tarrant and held him in place with his Cosmonata. “Tarrant, hold still so I can do this.”, he begged. After a few seconds, Tarrant fizzled out and stopped still.

“How did you do that?”, Jiro asked.

“I used the same anti-control software I gave Winda after our last battle.”, Myron answered as Tarrant regained consciousness.

“Reboot complete.”, Tarrant said, before looking around. “Oh hey Myron, you managed to find me.”

“I see your memory’s been affected slightly.”, Myron said as he let go. “What do you remember after being hit with the Tempus effect?”

Champ removed his mask and the cloak around his wrist, revealing his Morpher. “Well, when that light hit me, I woke up on this planet, a couple of days ago. I found that people were scared of me and went to investigate. When I saw that the culprit was a doppelgänger, I adopted this disguise and went to investigate.” He then removed the belt as well. “And just as I seemed to be getting close, I wake up here with you guys. So, how’ve you been?”

“We’ve been doing fine.”, Myron summarised. “Yuri and Cobras got new powers, Drago brought us a new ship and we discovered the Gingaku Brainworld is the planet Black in the Dark Nebula.” Then the Neo-Bullroid recovered and began firing. “And we found your doppelgänger and were about to destroy him.”

“Mind if we join you?”, Yuri, Proton and Barry jumped down. “After all, if he’s your problem, he’s also our problem.”

“Okay.”, Tarrant nodded. “Let’s finish him off.”

Yuri pulled out his Cosmo Sphere, with the other two doing the same. “It’s Morphing Time!” They summoned their Morphers and inserted the Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!/Rise, Change!” The three were morphed in a few seconds.

The 5 stood opposite the enemy robot, beginning their usual lines. This time, Tarrant led them. “Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

“Venom of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

“Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

“The Burning Challenger! Fire Knight!”

“Fire of the Lion, Red Ranger!”

“Bringing the Universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

“Let’s do this, team.”, Tarrant said, brandishing his Cosmo Axe. The Rangers summoned their weapons and ran towards the enemy. However, a pair of Gearoids dropped down behind them, disrupting their focus.

* * *

Up in space, the Shooting Star’s Zord launcher mechanism was up and running, connecting Slash’s cockpit to his main body, “Alright, let’s kick some mega-butt.”, he said clenching his fists.

The Chameleon Zord was the next to be assembled. “This new system is sweet.”, Mila said as the two blasted off towards he planet’s surface, joined by the Dragon Zord.

“Zords Combine!” The three combined, with Yellow as the right arm and Green as the left. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

* * *

The Megazord landed on the planet, charging at the two Gearoids. On the ground, the Neo-Bullroid fired at its targets, before super-speeding around and launching a boomerang at them.

Yuri pulled out his Big Bang Cosmo Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!”, he spun it, transforming into his ultimate form.

“Nice suit, Yuri.”, Tarrant said, before prepping his Cosmo Axe. “Cosmic Energy Crash!” He brought it down on the Neo-Bullroid, knocking it back.

Up in the Megazord, the three Rangers prepared an attack, which knocked the two Gearoids back.

Tarrant ran forward with both fists outstretched, knocking his evil counterpart back. “That’s for framing me.”, he declared.

“Time to finish this.”, Yuri said as he pressed the top of his Morpher.

Up in the Dragon Star, Drago, Slash and Mila prepped their finishing move. “Dragon Star Master Blast!”

The 6 Rangers on the surface prepared their own move. “Cosmic Big Bang Burning Attack!” The energies were sent flying towards the Neo-Bullroid, while the Dragon Star Megazord finished the two Gearoids.

“This Space is ours.”, the Rangers all declared.

{ _++++Damage assessment complete. Repair damage from Cosmic Big Bang Burning Attack and Cosmic Energy Crash++++_ } the Neo-Bullroid enlarged itself to a giant size. _{++++New target verified: Dragon Star Megazord++++}_

The Rangers on the ground were shocked. “That thing can grow?”, Barry said with shock.

And to add to the surprise, a giant Coiloga appeared. “That’s the least of your worries, boy.”, the giant declared.

“Let’s do this.”, Yuri said, pressing the button on his Morpher. “Summon Zords!”

“Voyager, Take Off!”

The Fire Voyager Megazord formed, as did the Cosmo Megazord, which had Sky as the right arm, Orange as the left arm, Blue as the left leg and Black as the right leg. “Now for some extra power.”, Yuri said, spinning his Cosmo Sphere again. “Shooting Star, transform!”

The ship came down to the planet, transforming into its Megazord mode, with Winda, Scales and Cobras standing in a large room that functioned as a cockpit. “I suppose this is how we control this without Yuri.”, she said.

The 4 Megazords stood next to each other in a line. “This time, you’re facing all of us.”, they declared.

“Shut up.”, Coiloga declared as he and his partner fired at their enemies, who all dodged.

“Let’s spread out.”, Yuri said as each opponent found themselves being faced down by two Megazords. Coiloga received a beating from the Cosmo and Shooting Star Megazords, while the Dragon Star and Fire Voyager took on the Neo-Bullroid.

Coiloga raised his sword to attack. “Oh no, you don’t.”, Myron said as he blocked the hit.

“Let’s take him down, guys.”, Yuri said to the Shooting Star crew.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”, Scales said as the same rifle from before was summoned. “Let’s do this.” He fired some shots, which caused the Shooting Star to make similar shots towards Coiloga.

The Drago and Proton had their respective Megazords kick the Neo-Bullroid back.

As the two opponents backed towards each other, Yuri had an idea. “Let’s hit them with all we’ve got.”, he said. The 4 Megazords all attacked their enemies.

“Yuri, I’ve been looking over the diagnostics of the ship.”, Cobras said, having the Shooting Star put its hand on the Cosmo Megazord’s. It has a cannon mode that combines all of our powers.”, he said.

“Well, let’s use it.”, Yuri said as he pressed his Big Bang Sphere again, spinning the wheel. The Shooting Star transformed into its spaceship mode, with the Eagle Zord appearing on top of the cannon, while the Balance and Serpent Zords were either side of it. The three Megazords then grabbed hold of each other, before grabbing the thrusters of the ship.

All twelve Rangers were teleported into the cockpit. “Wow, this is so cool.”, Mila said.

“I suppose this is how our powers are combined.”, Proton commented.

Yuri grabbed onto the rifle. “Everyone, grant me your powers.” Everyone nodded as the lights emerged from all of them, channelling into the rifle.

“Ultimate Galaxy Blast!”, the Rangers all declared.

12 beams came from the cannon, which hit both the opponents, blowing them up.

“For real, this Space is ours.”, everyone declared.

* * *

While the Neo-Bullroid had been destroyed by the blast, Coiloga was more fortunate, managing to limp back to his ship, where Dark Soul was waiting. “Their power… it’s too great at the moment.”, he wheezed out. “Barely managed to escape….”

“The Rangers are beginning to become more powerful?”, Dark Soul said with some shock. “If I’m to destroy the Red Ranger, I’m going to have to do it soon.”

“You won’t have to wait for long.”, Coiloga told him. “I’ve got a good idea of where they’ll be going next.”

* * *

** Planet Black, The Dark Nebula. **

Dr. Cerebron received a call from Gingaku. “ _Doctor, I heard word that one of your creations was unleashed on A-60 without my permission._ ”

Cerebron instinctively cowered. “Well, you see my Lord, it wasn’t my idea.”

“ _Well that’s a shame, because I’m pleased by its progress._ ”, Gingaku told him. “ _It managed to create an atmosphere of fear like no other has contemplated. And even discounting that, he came close to overpowering those Rangers._ ”

Cerebron was surprised. “You mean… you’re proud of my work?”

“ _Indeed_.”, Gingaku nodded. “ _In fact, I want them mass-produced and dispatched to all of our planets at once. The universe will soon be under our control once more._ ”

As the message ended, a second Neo-Bullroid stepped out of the shadows. “In that case, you won’t mind if I take one of my prototypes for myself.”, Cerebron said to himself. The robot picked up his sphere, absorbing it and transforming it’s head into a golden sphere, with spikes sticking out and a rictus grin. “Ah yes, this feels good.”

* * *

In his throne room, Gingaku received a call from his agent. “ _I have infiltrated the Rangers’ ship at this moment. Their next move is to penetrate the barrier surrounding the Dark Nebula._ ”

“As I thought.”, Gingaku responded. “They’ll need the lights of Perseus, Cepheus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia in formation to remove the barrier. They’ll have to search for the 4 Legendary Cosmo Spheres that were scattered across Space. They will allow them to recreate that formation and break the barrier.”

“ _Indeed, my Lord._ ”, the agent nodded. “ _But when they reach our territory, they won’t realise they’ve been walking into a trap until it’s too late.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 34 of Kyuranger. Though the scene of the Shooting Star ship failing to penetrate the enemy system is from episode 36
> 
> The former assistant is visually based on a supporting character from Girls in Trouble: Space Squad Episode 0. 
> 
> Unlike the Sentai, I’m not going to be using the berserk circuit plot line after this episode. But you should be able to tell where we’re going next by that final scene.


	28. The Lion’s Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers are on a quest for 4 Legendary Cosmo Spheres to penetrate the Dark Nebula. The first stop takes them to the planet Tategami, where Yuri has to face his past.

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

The Rangers, now rejoined by their robotic member Tarrant and having added the scientist Corvelia to their crew, were now floating through space. “Okay, Corvelia. We need to know how to get past the barrier around the Dark Nebula.”, Proton outlined. “Can you help us?”

“‘The Dark Nebula’, eh?”, Corvelia said, before thinking about it for a few seconds. “The only way the barrier can vanish is when the lights of Cepheus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Perseus align perfectly. That will disrupt the radiation that composes the barrier enough to pass through it.”

“That could be a problem.”, Heath pointed out. “We have no idea when those stars will align next. We can’t afford to wait around at the moment.”

“And we won’t.”, Drago assured him. “Legend says that the lights of those 4 stars were stored within 4 Cosmo Spheres, seemingly to no apparent end. I think we can figure out the real reason for that.”

“We have to try and locate them.”, Myron stated. “Which is why I’ve been working on this machine.” He went over to one of the terminals and picked up a small controller. “This device will pick up on the Cosmo Spheres that aren’t in our custody by using criteria we input.”

“Well the criteria should be simple.”, Winda pointed out. “We simply need to search for the 4 lights from those constellations.”

“Ok then.”, Myron pressed a few keys on the device, which caused it to make a “ping” sound. “According to this, there are two within the next 6000 light years. One on the planet Periculum and one on the planet Tategami.”

“Planet Tategami?”, Yuri thought, a memory flashing into his head. But he shook it off for the moment. “How are we going to handle two at once?”

“That sounds like a bit of a puzzle.”, Drago said, thinking before coming up with an idea. “I’ve got it.”, he said as he clicked his fingers. “We each separate into groups consisting of half of our total force. One group will go to Periculum in the Shooting Star, while the other will go on to Tategami.”

“Then I volunteer for the second team.”, Yuri stated.

As everyone reacted with shock, Heath was the one to put it together. “If I recall correctly, that’s where you got attacked by Gingaku. You want to find some answers as to what allowed you to survive, am I correct?”

“That’s right.”, Yuri said.

“In that case, I’m coming too.”, Myron insisted. “It would be interesting to try and find out what that lion who saved you was. And how it was able to inhabit your body.”

* * *

** Planet Kaien, the Lion Galaxy. **

But nothing was known of this on the distant planet of Kaien, where the System Controller Balistas, a robotic warrior in armour with a set of rocket launchers on his shoulders, was talking with Princess Viera. While once, she had ruled over the entire system, Balistas had rendered that position little more than a figurehead role. “You have done well, Viera.”, Balistas complimented her. “Your order to surrender all weapons has been obeyed.”

“Save your praises, Controller.”, Viera responded, bitterly. “It was the only way to stop you from destroying them all.”

Balistas ignored her, now changing his tact. “But, we need you no more. You are expendable.”

Viera was shocked to hear this. “You can’t get rid of me.”, she insisted. “Weapons or no weapons, my people won’t take you executing me lightly. You’ll be run out of this system within days.”

“Who said anything about execution?”, Balistas clicked his fingers, summoning a pair of Neo-Bullroids to take hold of the Princess. “Take her to the modification centre. Let’s put that warrior’s spirit to some good use.” The Bullroids took their hostage away with them, complying with the order. “These new robots Dr. Cerebron built are very handy. Not likely to be tempted by betrayal.”

“Don’t let yourself get complacent.” Balistas turned around to see Coiloga, standing in front of the statue that had that unique glint on its chest. “After all, you never know who might show up.”

“I hope that’s not a threat.”, Balistas said, before the two dropped all pretence of seriousness and greeted each other warmly. “So what brings you to my neck of the universe, you old dog?”

“Actually, I’m here on business.”, Coiloga answered him. “The Rangers are certain to come to this planet soon enough. I’ve also sent my friend to one of your colleagues’ planet to prepare another trap.”

* * *

**Planet Tategami, the Lion Galaxy.**

Dark Soul came across the Planetary Controller for the world he had landed on. It was a small tentacled being, wearing sunglasses and a hat, operating a human sized body, made of gold and possessing arms with blades on the end and a pair of cannons on the shoulders. “You must be Tenticat, the Controller for the planet Tategami.” The alien replied, but it was in a language Dark Soul didn’t understand. “Switch on your translator.”

The alien pressed a button. “Sorry. Indeed, I am the one known as Tenticat.”, came the answer. “And you are the Mouth of Gingaku, otherwise known as Dark Soul. What brings you to this world?”

“The Power Rangers.”, was Dark Soul’s answer. “I know they will be coming here to search for a valuable item that could bring down our empire. Including your planet.”

Tenticat pressed his translator again. “Don’t worry about that. I keep all valuable objects on this planet close to me. As for the Power Rangers, I will deal with them when they alive.” He hit his chest. “Arrive. Apologies, my translator has some bugs.”

“Good to hear.”, Dark Soul said. “And another thing. When they arrive, the Red Ranger is mine for the taking, while you can get to take the rest out.”

* * *

Soon enough, the Rangers sent their main party to the planet. This consisted of Yuri, Myron, Jiro, Tarrant, Mila, Slash and Heath. “Alright, this scanner says that the Cosmo Sphere is nearby.”, Myron said. Then the machine pinged again. “That’s funny, it’s saying that there’s three separate Cosmo Sphere signals nearby, and one of them’s moving.”

“What does that mean?”, Tarrant asked.

“More than likely that someone has already taken what we’re looking for.”, Slash answered him. “Or one of the others that Myron just picked up.”

But Yuri wasn’t paying attention to this, instead staring off at the nearby woods. Mila took notice of this. “Something on your mind, Yuri?”, she asked.

“This is where I woke up in the aftermath.”, Yuri said solemnly. “I was woken up by a farmer, all memory of the past gone from my mind.”

As if on cue, a middle-aged man came out of the nearby shack and saw Yuri. “Hey, I know you.”, he said excitedly, catching everyone’s attention. “You’re that displaced Earther I found a few years ago.”

Yuri went over to embrace the man. “Yeah, that’s me. It’s good to see you again… what’s your name?”

“Cules.”, the man replied. “I assume you were unlucky in finding the way back to Earth then?”

“No, he was successful.”, Heath clarified. “He’s here with us on business. We’re looking for something from off-world that’s on this planet. Could you help us?”

Cules thought upon it for a few minutes and then came up with an answer. “Can’t say I’ve much to share with you. There was the ship up in orbit crashing down in the woods a few months back, followed by the shooting star that came down in the same area a few weeks later.”

“You’ve been a great help.”, Jiro said to him. “Well, I guess we’re going for a walk in the woods.”

“Indeed.”, Myron answered him. “And hopefully, we can at finally learn something about what happened to Yuri’s friend Gregory.”, he thought.

* * *

Elsewhere, Tenticat was greeted by a red-skinned, snarling lion-like Beast. It had pawed feet, a pair of bladed arms that connected to its shoulders, a set of yellow shoulder pads and the head was in a permanent snarl, with a bone in its mouth and purple hair. “ _Consider this my gift to you_.”, a message from Balistas played. “ _Something to help with your Ranger problem_.”

“Thank you, Master.”, Tenticat said. “Now to go hunting.”

* * *

The Rangers had gone into the woods and were now looking around. “Anything on your thingy yet?”, Jiro asked. “My feet are killing me.”

“Maybe if you wore shoes.”, Myron chided him. “And no, nothing has popped up. But I’ll make sure you’re the first to know when I get something.”

It was at that moment that Yuri began to convulse. “The thing in my head.”, he managed to get out as everyone watched. “It’s waking up.” The his head dropped, before rising again with a set of familiar glowing eyes.

“So this is Yuri’s possessed state.”, Heath said with some intrigue. “I’ve never seen it up close before.”

“ ** _Must… reunite… as one_**.”, the presence said as it dragged Yuri off into a different part of the woods.

“Yuri, wait.”, Heath called out, taking off after him. Before the others could follow, they were attacked by Tenticat and his group of Detainers and Commanagas.

Tenticat made a boast towards his enemies, but none of them seemed to understand him. “Sorry. I have a habit of speaking without my translator.”, he said with his translator on this time. “I was saying that I have you now.” Then he noticed something. “Where’s your red friend?”

“You just missed him.”, Myron answered. “And don’t ask where he is now, because even I don’t know.”

“No matter. I was only told to deal with you fools and save him for someone else.” Tenticat pointed at the Rangers. “Servants. Destroy them!”

The Rangers engaged in battle with the Detainers, each pulling out their Cosmo Spheres and summoning their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”, the Rangers all said in sequence.

“Orange Cosmic Ranger!”

“Blue Cosmic Ranger!”

“Black Cosmic Ranger!”

“Green Cosmic Ranger!”

“Yellow Cosmic Ranger!”

The Rangers then resumed their battle, making short work of the Detainers and Commanagas. “Very well, then.”, Tenticat said, flexing his arms. “I’ll deal with you myself.” He then engaged the Rangers in battle.

* * *

Elsewhere in the woods, Heath had lost Yuri. “I think I’m lost.”, he said to himself. “If only I could find something -.” He stopped as he saw a crashed shuttle in a crater. “Familiar.” He went into the ship, stopping when he heard a “chink” beneath his foot. He looked down to see a Cosmo Sphere, trapped beneath a branch. As he removed the branch, the Sphere flew off on its own. He dismissed this and pressed on into the bowels of the shuttle.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri’s controlled body stumbled through the woods, coming across a small stone sticking out of the ground. “It is here.”, the voice said. “ ** _Must reunite._** ” The image of the lion warrior flashed over Yuri’s body, before separating and entering the stone. The stone rose from the ground, exposing itself as a small statue of a lion, which shattered to reveal a white and red lion, which was moving.

Yuri then regained consciousness. “What happened? Where am I?”, he asked. He then noticed the small lion hopping around. “Is that… you?”, he asked, noting the lion’s resemblance to the warrior within his mind’s armour.

As if to answer his question, the lion nodded, creating a new Cosmo Sphere in Yuri’s hand. It had a gold frame, a similar image to Yuri’s Lion-01 Sphere and the number “77”. “ _ **This is Leo-77**_.”, the voice came from the Lion. “ ** _It will allow you to harness my power._** ” Yuri nodded, inserting the Sphere into his Morpher and pressing it backwards. This caused the Lion to transform into a cannon. It was at that point that the lion creature Tenticat commanded made its entrance, attacking Yuri.

Yuri pulled his Lion-01 Sphere out and morphed with it. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He knocked the creature back with his Cosmo Saber and aimed the cannon at the beast, placing the Leo-77 Sphere on it. “Penta Blaster, Fire!” He fired a warning shot at the creature, causing it to flee.

“ ** _Good work, Yuri._** ”, the lion’s voice continued. “ ** _Now hurry, your allies are in danger._** ”

Yuri, while shocked to hear this, set off running in the direction he saw his footprints coming from.

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers were fighting a losing battle against Tenticat. “Ha ha, you fools.”, he gloated. “Nothing can save you now.”

It was at that point that the Cosmo Sphere that Heath had found flew in and knocked the Planetary Controller aside. It then flew into Myron’s Morpher, activating itself and summoning a familiar chest plate. “Aye, it’s good to be back and out of that thing.”, Pegasus said. “Do you know how uncomfortable it is to be trapped for months in the same place?”

“Pegasus?”, Slash said with confusion. “So this is where you came to when you left us.”

“I was wondering why Pegasus-33 wasn’t in my collection.”, Myron said. “But I didn’t expect to find out why by having the answer appear on my chest.”

“Yeah, I came to this dump to find Astral Leo based on where I sensed his energy.”, Pegasus replied. “But the trail went dead here and I ended up trapped until a few minutes ago. Then I sensed you guys were near and went to help.”

“You can receive all the help you want.”, Tenticat declared. “It won’t make a difference to me in taking you down.” He began charging towards them.

However, he was shot back by an arriving Yuri. “Guys, you won’t believe what I found.”

“I assume it’s that cannon that you’re holding.”, Mila said. “Is that what the lion was after.”

“Yeah, I think it’s his body.”, Yuri said. “He gave me a Cosmo Sphere that can control it.” He held up the Leo-77 Sphere for all to see.

Tenticat merely growled at this. He tried to utter a curse to them, but the blast had damaged his translator, knocking a vital component out. He decided it was no matter and grew to giant size.

“ ** _Use my Power once more_**.”, the voice of the Lion came from the Sphere. “ ** _Call a Zord with me._** ”

“Ok.”, Yuri said with confusion, inserting the Sphere and pressing it to the side. “Summon Zord… I think?”

As he fired, the lion grew to giant size. Then the Rangers, except Myron, were surrounded by their cockpits. Yuri’s was now gold, to match with Leo-77. The Lion Zord appeared, with the cockpits plugging into their usual slots and the Leo Zord attached its parts onto the Lion Zord. “ ** _Now I am complete once more._** ”, the lion declared. “ ** _I am Astral Leo!_** ”

* * *

“Wow, this is cool.”, Yuri said as he had Astral Leo attack a now-airborne Tenticat.

From the ground, Myron and Pegasus watched the battle. “So Astral Leo was the presence inside Yuri all along.”, Myron noted. “Fascinating.”

Suddenly, he was attacked by Dark Soul. “It won’t make a difference.”, the masked warrior declared. “I’m still going to crush him with my bare hands.”

“You’ll have to go through us, bub.”, Pegasus responded. “Er, you okay letting me take you for a spin, pal?”

“You know it.”, Myron said as he leapt towards the enemy, engaging him in a sword fight with his Cosmonata.

* * *

“Let’s see if we can make this a Megazord.”, Yuri said, pulling his Sphere towards him. “Astral Leo, transform!” The rest of the Zord bodies appeared, with Yellow becoming the right arm, Green becoming the left arm, Black becoming the right leg and Blue becoming the left leg. The Megazord now had a golden chest, a result of Leo-77’s power, and had a cannon in it’s right appendage and a different head, with a more knight-like appearance. “Astral Leo Megazord, ready!”

Tenticat continued to fly towards the Rangers, but was repelled by shots from their new cannon. “ _ **You will not harm them.**_ ”, Astral Leo’s voice boomed. Eventually, Tenticat took a hit during the dogfight and began to shudder.

“We’re gonna put his cat out.”, Jiro said. He then raised his leg, kicking the enemy back.

However, Tenticat rose once more. He barked an order, which summoned a fleet of Gingaku fighters. The Megazord was knocked back, to which Tenticat laughed inanely.

“Oh no you don’t.”, Yuri said. “Astral Cannon, fire!” He pulled his Cosmo Sphere backwards, unleashing a flurry of shots that took out much of the fleet.

Tenticat growled even more at this, speaking once more in his own tongue. He then leapt off his robot body and onto Astral Leo’s head, squeezing it with his tentacles.

“Get off us, you freak.”, Mila said as she pushed her tongue to knock him off.

“It’s time to end this.”, Yuri said, preparing the final attack. “Astral Projection Break!”

Astral Leo charged his cannon and fired at the opponent. “ _ **Evil, begone!**_ ”, Astral Leo declared.

Tenticat, body and all, was struck by the beam, cursing the Rangers with his final breath as he exploded.

“This Space is ours!”, the 5 Rangers and Astral Leo all declared.

* * *

On the ground, Myron was still battling with Dark Soul, neither able to get the advantage. “You’re good.”, Myron admitted, as he pulled out his Unicorn-27 Sphere. “But I’m better.” He inserted the Sphere, activating it. “Plus Up! Double Pegasus Mode!” He summoned his horn arm, using it to ram into Dark Soul and knock him down.

However, Dark Soul wouldn’t stay down. “You think you’re going to bring me down?”, he growled as he ran forward with his sword. “I won’t rest until the Red Ranger lies defeated at my feet. And nothing is going to stop me! NOTHING!!”

Dark Soul was shot back by the other Rangers, returned from their battle in Astral Leo. “If you want me creep, then you’ll get me.”, Yuri said as he pulled out his Big Bang Sphere, activating it and inserting it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He transformed into his Super mode. “The Warrior of the Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

“Nice suit, but it won’t save you.”, Dark Soul growled as he charged forth to battle his hated enemy.

Yuri called up Jiro’s Cosmo Claw and clashed with his enemy’s sword. Yuri then spun the wheel on his Sphere. “Lupus Werewolf Scratch!” He crashed his weapon into his opponent’s, breaking it. He then called up Tarrant’s Cosmo Axe and brought crashing down on his opponent’s mask shattering it. However, before he could strike again, Yuri took a good look at the face beneath the mask and stopped. “No, it can’t be…”

“Oh but it is.”, Dark Soul said. “What’s the matter, Yuri? Aren’t you going to finish me off? I am your enemy.”

“I…can’t.”

“Why not?”, Slash asked. “Yuri, what’s wrong?”

“Hasn’t he told you about me?”, Dark Soul said with a smile on his face. “I’m his old friend, Gregory.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 36 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Since I began planning this series, I always intended for this point to be the big turning point for Yuri’s arc. I also always intended for it to be the debut of Astral Leo. 
> 
> Princess Viera wasn’t originally meant to be in this fic, but I figured it would look odd if this was set at the centre of the Lion Galaxy and she didn’t appear. Her monster form has the torso from Trinoid 4: BakuDandeLion, the arms from the Griffon Minosaur from Ryusoulger vs Lupinranger vs Patranger and the head and legs from Raimon Gaorufang from the latter show.
> 
> Balistas’ conversation with Viera was cribbed from the Doctor Who comic “Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer”.


	29. The Quest for the Spheres

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the reveal of Dark Soul’s true identity, Yuri is shook. However, he must put these feelings aside in order to recover the Perseus and Cepheus Cosmo Spheres, which have been taken by Coiloga.

_When we last left the Cosmic Defenders, they had begun a quest to locate 4 Cosmo Spheres that could allow them to penetrate the barrier surrounding the Dark Nebula, the home system of Gingaku. Yuri led 6 of the Rangers to search for one on the planet Tategami, where he was marooned all those years ago. When they arrived on the planet, the presence within Yuri reasserted itself, locating its original body and revealing itself as Astral Leo, the progenitor of the Cosmo Spheres. Yuri also came face to face with the mysterious Dark Soul, facing him in a duel. However, during the duel, Dark Soul’s mask was broken, revealing Yuri’s friend Gregory, who he assumed lost, is the one who had tried to destroy him several times._

* * *

**Planet Tategami, the Lion Galaxy.**

The Rangers could only stare with stunned expressions at the reveal of their enemy’s identity. “It can’t be…”, Mila gasped. “Yuri’s friend… is also his worst enemy?”

“Former friend.”, Gregory snarled. “I’m not one to forget things easily, especially with what he did to me.”

“But Gregory and Dark Soul were in the same place at the same time.”, Tarrant pointed out. “Yuri, Mila and Scales all saw it.”

“No they didn’t.”, Myron pointed out. “They saw Gregory in chains, before Squideyasu teleported him away and then Dark Soul showed up, after enough time had elapsed to allow him to change back into his suit.”

Heath then showed up, running out of the woods with something in his hands. “Guys, you won’t believe what I’ve found out.” He then took a good look at the scene that had elapsed. “I see that you’ve found out something even more unbelievable.”

“‘Unbelievable’ is right.”, the Pegasus Armour attached to Myron commented. “This is actually the second most shocking thing today.”

“But we still don’t know why.”, Yuri asked, demorphing in an attempt to defuse the tension. “Why would you try and kill me, your friend?”

“‘Friend’?”, Gregory said scornfully. “You left me to rot on the shuttle. And I’ve been waiting for the moment where I would get to kill you.” He punched Yuri to the ground and prepared to bash his head in with a rock. However, he was shot back by the arrival of the Shooting Star ship, which flew in overhead. Yuri summoned Astral Leo, taking the opportunity to transport everyone back up to the ship and take off. “This isn’t the end, Yuri. I will get you!”, Dark Soul growled. Then he noticed something glowing in the rubble, which he smiled at upon closer inspection.

* * *

** The Shooting Star Ship. **

The party from Tategami breathed a sigh of relief. “How did your mission go?”, Drago asked, as he held up the Andromeda-40 Cosmo Sphere. “Because ours was pretty successful.”

“At least one of our searches turned something out,”, Myron said. “Sure, we found out the truth behind Yuri’s other half, the fate of his friend Gregory and two Cosmo Spheres, one old, one new. But we weren’t able to find what we set out to find.”

Slash and Jiro recapped the events that had occurred on the planet. “My word.”, Winda said with shock. “That does seem to be a lot of information to take in.”

“So, Yuri’s other half is the one who ensured we’d go on this quest.”, was all Cobras had to say. “It would make sense of a lot of Yuri’s unusual abilities.”

“But how did he and Yuri come together in the first place?”, Barry asked. “That’s the thing I still can’t get.”

As if on cue, the Leo-77 Sphere flew into Yuri’s Morpher, pushing itself forward. Yuri was filled with an aura, which caused him to transform into Astral Leo’s armour. “ ** _Allow me to answer that, young one._** ”, the lion’s voice said.

Everyone was taken aback by this. “Fascinating.”, Corvelia said. “Astral Leo can use his Cosmo Sphere to make the change of personas in Yuri more controllable.”

Astral Leo ignored her and carried on. “ ** _I slept for thousands of years on the planet Tategami, waiting for the moment when I would be required. As I awoke, I sensed that one of the other twelve chosen warriors was nearby. I also sensed that his life was in danger. So I transformed into my truest form and prevented his falling to his doom. But in that opportunity, I was attacked by the Gingaku fleet, fragmenting my body and sending my energies into the nearest available container… Yuri’s subconscious. I had to suppress his memories to install myself, and I used the last of my energy to make the Lion-01 appear and accept Yuri as it’s host. Then I fell into dormancy, barely able to manifest except during moments where it was necessary.”_**

“Well what will you do now?”, Scales asked. “You’ve got your main body back.”

“ ** _For now, Yuri will continue to use my power and I shall remain in his body._** ”, came the answer. “ ** _But he will be able to call upon my power to aid him at any time._** ” Then the Sphere removed itself from the Morpher, reverting Yuri to normal. “Well that was certainly a revelation.”, Yuri said. “But we still need to know how Gregory became a fanatical Gingaku clansman who hates my guts.”

“I think I can answer that.”, Heath said as he pulled out a device covered in wires. “This is the black box from your ship. It could tell us something if we plug it in.”

“Well what’re we waiting for?”, Slash asked. “Let’s do it.”

* * *

** Planet Kaien, the Lion Galaxy. **

Dark Soul, still without his mask and sword, stumbled into the throne room. “Well, look what the lion dragged in.”, Coiloga said to him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming back here after that embarrassing performance.”

“Not to mention costing me my second-in-command.”, Balistas added. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just have you destroyed here and now.”

“I have this.”, Dark Soul said, holding out the Perseus-36 Cosmo Sphere. “It’s one of the Cosmo Spheres the Rangers are seeking. That fool Tenticat was using it to power his translator, not realising its real value.”

Coiloga perked up at this, taking the Sphere from his associate’s hand. “This is satisfactory. How about I send you back to Planet Black to receive a boost? That way, you might have a chance against the Red Ranger next time.”

Dark Soul nodded. “I can accept that.” He turned and began to walk back to his ship.

“So what do we do with this thing?”, Balistas asked. “Don’t tell me you’re planning to bottle and sell its energy.”

“Oh I’ve got something better in mind.”, Coiloga said, laughing slightly. “Do you still have that special skill of yours?”

“You know it. Why do you ask?”

Coiloga turned to his partner in crime. “Let’s just say we need a message from the Princess.”

* * *

** The Shooting Star Ship. **

The Rangers had plugged the black box into the central terminal. They had begun replaying its contents, having come to the point where Yuri had fled the ship, while Gregory was buried beneath rubble, begging for help. And then who should show up, but “Coiloga.”, Yuri said disdainfully. “I should’ve known he had a hand in Gregory’s corruption.”

Heath saw looks of disdain coming from the faces of half the Rangers. “I assume you all have some bad blood with Coiloga.”, he said.

“I can understand that.”, Corvelia added. “He’s a real scumbag.” This caused Myron to eye her suspiciously. “Or so I’ve heard.”, she said to cover herself.

Yuri ignored all this, instead focusing on the words said in the footage. “ _What’s going on?”, Gregory asked. “Who are you?”_

_“I’m the one who saved your life.”, Coiloga said with all the honesty of a snake. “Especially after your friend abandoned you.”_

_“You’re lying.”, Gregory insisted. “Yuri wouldn’t do that. We’ve been close since kindergarten.”_

_“If you’re so close, then why did he just walk out on you?”, Coiloga asked. “He deserted you to make for the planet below, while you stay here with no way to be rescued immediately. Except by me.”_

_Gregory thought about this, before getting angry. “I can believe Yuri would just abandon me. Especially after all we’ve been through together. If I ever see him again, I’ll kill him!”_

_“I can help you with that.”, Coiloga informed him. “If you come with me back to my Master’s home planet, you can become a powerful warrior. Your friend won’t be able to overcome your revenge. Now then, what’s your name?”_

_Gregory stood up, the rubble having been lifted. “My old name is of no consequence. When Yuri and I meet again, I want him to know that he left behind a very dark soul bent on his destruction.”_ Then the image cut out.

“So Gregory decided to kill Yuri ‘cause he was left behind.”, Jiro summarised. “Seems kind of anticlimactic, when you think about it.”

Then, before the conversation could continue further, a transmission appeared on the screen. When they turned it on, they were greeted by a young woman in a green dress with black gloves. “That’s Viera.”, Winda commented. “Princess of the Lion Galaxy. I wonder what she’ll have to say.”

“ _My people.”, Viera stated. “Reports indicate that the terrorists known as the Power Rangers have breached our Lion Galaxy and hope to supplant our ruling class, replacing it with chaos. “Thus, I am issuing a challenge to these Rangers. If you do not appear to face me on my planet of Kaien in three Earth hours, then my beast will be dispatched to deal with you.”_

The image cut to a beast, that Yuri found familiar. “That’s the thing I fought in the woods.”, he realised. “It was under Viera’s control the entire time?”

“More to the point, what would this Princess have against us?”, Proton asked, not having said anything for a while.

“From all the data I can extrapolate, she shouldn’t.”, Winda answered. “Princess Viera once befriended a group of Power Rangers a few years ago. They inspired her to reform the Galaxy’s corrupt policies. If anything, we should have a red carpet welcome.”

“Something’s up.”, Tarrant recognised. “She must be under Gingaku’s control somehow.”

“If she is, then we need to get close to her and convince the people of this.”, Scales said. “Then we can use their aid in overthrowing Gingaku.”

Suddenly, Myron’s device began beeping. “I’m detecting one of the Legendary Spheres on Kaien.”, Myron said, as the machine pinged again. “Two of them, in fact.”

“Well, that gives us two purposes in this Galaxy.”, Drago said. “Find the two Legendary Cosmo Spheres and liberate the system from Gingaku’s reign of terror. We just need to decide on an away team.” He pulled out his roulette wheel. “Alright, let’s do it.”

* * *

** Planet Kaien, Two Hours Later. **

The Rangers landed on the planet, with the chosen away team - Yuri, Jiro, Scales, Cobras, Slash, Barry and Proton - disembarking the ship and walking into the city centre. “We’re here, like you asked.”, Yuri called out. “So you could do us the favour of showing yourself.”

“How foolishly brave of you.” Viera appeared atop a podium, accompanied by Coiloga, Balistas and the creature from the woods. “You walked right into our ambush.”

“What ambush?”, Proton asked. “It’s 4 of you against 6 of us. We have you outnumbered, Princess.”

As if on cue, an angry mob appeared, brandishing makeshift weapons. “Correction, they have US outnumbered.”, Slash commented.

In the mob, Yuri took note of three cloaked figures, whom he nodded to. He then turned to the Princess. “It must be hard having to toady up to these invaders.”, he said, before pointing an accusing finger at her. “Or maybe not, especially since you’re not the real Viera.” The whole crowd reacted with shock to this.

“Deception!”, Viera claimed. “Who are you to make such incredible claims?”

Yuri held out his Cosmo Spheres, Lion-01 and Leo-77, before nodding for the others to do the same. “As you can see, we’re the ones chosen to wield the powers of the Cosmo Spheres, which means that we’re the ones destined to free the universe from evil. And I was chosen by the Cosmo Spheres of Astral Leo himself.” The people immediately gasped and started bowing their heads. “Would someone like me really be evil, if I had that power?”

Balistas seemed to be getting nervous. “That proves nothing.”, Viera insisted. “You could’ve stolen them.”

“Oh, forget this.”, one of the hooded figures said, throwing off his cloak to reveal Tarrant.

“Indeed.”, the second cloaked figure removed her cloak to reveal Winda. “This farce has gone on long enough.”

“Let’s end it.”, the third figure revealed himself as Myron. Everyone took out and inserted Cosmo Spheres into their Morphers. “Water-28”

“Whale-37”, Tarrant called out.

“Pump-17”, Winda yelled.

“Activate!” Myron and Tarrant fired jets of water from their Morphers. While Tarrant’s initially only shot upwards, Winda redirected it towards the same target as Myron’s - the Princess, who dissolved into sand when hit. “You see, she’s an impostor, an impostor created by Balistas.”

As the crowd gasped in shock, Balistas stepped forward in anger. “Impossible! How could you know?”, he growled.

“Oh it’s simple really.”, Yuri said.

* * *

**_Earlier._ **

_“Ok, our away team has been decided.”, Drago said. “Is everything in order?”_

_“Not yet.”, Yuri replied, before turning towards Winda. “Winda, do you know who’s in charge of the Lion Galaxy in Gingaku?”_

_“Checking… System Controller Balistas.”, Winda responded. “Why?”, she asked, before realising the answer. “My files says that he can recreate anything from sand stored in his missiles.”_

_“I think I figured out why Viera was speaking against us.”, Yuri stated. “We just need to get her wet.”_

_“We’ve got at least two Cosmo Spheres that can handle that job.”, Proton informed him. “But one of them has no chance of hitting its target on its own. And we’d have no way of getting them out without looking suspicious.”_

_“We in the away team, yes.”, Yuri said. “But I have a plan.”_

* * *

**Right Now.**

“So I had these three fly on ahead and infiltrate the crowd to pull off my little reveal.”, Yuri finished. “Now then, where’s the real Princess?”

Coiloga and Balistas laughed at this. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”, the former said mockingly. He then indicated the monster accompanying them. “She’s had some work done, but the Princess has been among us the whole time. We felt her warrior’s ferocity was a good substitute for her leadership, since that wasn’t required anymore.” Everyone gasped in shock at this.

“Plus, we took the time to gather these.”, Balistas said, holding up two Cosmo Spheres. “Perseus-36 and Cepheus-54. I heard you were looking for them.”

“You’re right we are.”, Yuri said, stepping forward with the other members chosen for the away team. Winda, Myron and Tarrant focused on getting the crowd to safety and confronting the corrupted Viera. “It’s Morphing Time!”

“Galaxy Saber!”, Proton called, summoning his sword in shield.

The 7 Rangers all inserted their Cosmo Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!/Rise! Change!” They ran forward to battle Balistas, who summoned Detainers using his missiles. Proton and Yuri went after Balistas, delivering a pair of slashes to him.

“I can do a lot more than Princesses and Detainers.”, Balistas declared as he fired another shot into the air, which summoned a trio of Commanagas to join the battle.

“We neeed to stop him from making anymore.”, Proton said as one of the Commanagas faced him down.

Yuri delivered another hit to Balistas, before being blocked by Coiloga. “It’s time I had a talk with you.”, Coiloga said as he crossed swords with his opponent.

Yuri could barely fight back as he fell down. “I won’t let you manipulate me.”, he said. “Not like you did to him.”

“Ah yes, your friend.”, Coiloga said as he stopped Yuri’s next hit, before knocking him into a wall. “He was the perfect pawn. I stoked the idea that you’d betrayed him, so he’d become totally dedicated to destroying you.” He then head butted his opponent and knocked him to the ground. “I intended for him to destroy you, in the ultimate act of delicious irony. But you had to get too powerful for him to handle in a fight. Guess I’ll finish the job myself.”

“Why you.”, Yuri declared as he got up and pointed his Cosmo Saber at Coiloga.

Coiloga extended his cybernetic arm, pointing it at Yuri. “I’d say our little association has been fun, but I’d be lying.”, he said.

Yuri, pulled out Leo-77 and inserted it into his Morpher. “I will stop you.”, he said.

“Pfft, nothing you hit me with has hurt me in any significant way.”, Coiloga stated. “What could you possibly have that I’ve not already shrugged off?”

“Nothing.”, answered Yuri. “But let’s see what my friend has.” He pushed the Sphere forward, transforming into Astral Leo. “ ** _Let’s go, you fiend._** ”, he declared as he pulled out Yuri’s Big Bang Sphere, activating it and inserting it into his Morpher, spinning it. His armour was upgraded, giving him longer protrusions on his shoulders and shins, a cape bellowing off his back and a large crest on his helmet. “ ** _Big Bang Astral Leo, ready!_** ” He ran towards Coiloga, quickly getting the upper hand in a sword fight, where he knocked Coiloga’s sword out of his hand and kicked him back.

* * *

Meanwhile, the others had knocked the three Commanagas down and prepared their finishers. “Burning Cosmic Blast!” The blasts hit the Commanagas, destroying them. “Now we just need to beat the big guy.”, Proton said.

“That might be easier said then done.”, Balistas declared as he pulled out the two Spheres, inserting them into his body and glowing with energy. “Let’s see you try and stop me now.” He pulled out a pair of miniature laser pistols from his hips, shooting them at the Rangers, who dodged out of the way.

“You think you’re a big shot.”, Barry stated, inserting his Bear-22 Sphere and activating it, growing to giant size. “Let’s see how you like this.” He slammed down on Balistas, crushing him.

Then Scales ran straight up to the System Controller with his Cosmo Rifle. “Let’s give you an express delivery.” He shot a series of blasts that knocked Balistas back.

“Make that two.”, Cobras said, running forward and delivering a slash with his Cosmo Scythe.

Then Balistas was hit by the double team of Jiro and Slash. “Two again one? That’s not fair.”, he stated.

“You don’t get to be fair.”, Proton said as he engaged in a fight with Balistas.

* * *

Meanwhile, Coiloga had been pushed back against the wall incredibly hard. “You’ve actually hurt me.”, he said.

“ ** _And now Yuri will deliver the final blow_**.”, Astral Leo declared as he pressed the top of the Big Bang Sphere and spun it, turning into the Big Bang Ranger. “Let’s do it.”, Yuri stated as he used his prehensile cape to slam Coiloga against various walls. He then dodged all of his hits, before summoning his Cosmo Saber from a portal. He managed to hit Coiloga twice more.

“That stings.”, Coiloga growled. “Where does your power come from?”

“It comes from my friends.”, Yuri told him, summoning up portals for all the Rangers, this time including the Dragon, Sky and Fire Ranger Weapons. “Astral Leo allowed me to tap into my full power.”, he said as all the weapons flew at Coiloga, causing him to roll on the floor.

“‘Friends’? Don’t make me laugh.”, Coiloga yelled. “I’ve managed to win countless times on my own.” It was then that the defeated body of Balistas fell in front of him. “What happened to you?”, he asked.

“We did.”, Proton said as the other Rangers rejoined Yuri. “Like I told your friend Katseayor, friends can make you stronger than you ever could be on your own.”

“Katseayor was a fool.”, Coiloga responded. “As was Tricerodo. I am the only warrior Lord Orbis ever needed, even before he became Gingaku.”

“That’s your problem.”, Yuri said, stepping forward. “You’re so absorbed with being solitary that you drive people to stand against you. Well, that ends today.” Everyone prepared their final attacks.

“Cosmic Big Bang Burning Strike!”

The seven beams hit the two Gingaku warriors, after overpowering a counter strike from Coiloga. While he managed to escape the blast alive, Balistas was not so fortunate. “I’m sorry, Lord Coiloga. I failed you. And the Clan.”, he said as he fell down and exploded, leaving behind Perseus-36 and Cepheus-54.

* * *

Elsewhere, the monster Tarrant and Myron were fighting reverted back to Princess Viera. “What happened?”, she asked. “Where am I?”

“He did it.”, Myron said. “Yuri defeated Balistas.”

* * *

Coiloga picked the two Spheres up. “You won’t get these so long as I draw breath.”, he said as he inserted them into himself. He absorbed the energy into his super growth implant, allowing him to become a giant. “Something you soon won’t be doing.”

“Astral Leo, Come Forth!”, Yuri announced, prepping himself in the Zord summoning position.

“Voyager, Take Off!”, Proton announced as he summoned his own Megazord.

Astral Leo combined with the Lion Zord, before Yuri imitated another combination. “Zords, combine!”

The Astral Leo Zord combined with Yellow becoming the right arm, Blue becoming the left arm, Silver becoming the right leg and Gold becoming the left leg. “Astral Leo Megazord, ready!”

“You ready for this, Astral Leo?”, Yuri asked.

Mila and Drago appeared in the Shooting Star ship, turning it into the Shooting Star Megazord. “We’re in on this too.”, Drago stated from the secondary cockpit.

Finally, Proton’s own Fire Voyager transformed into its Megazord mode. “We’re all in on his.”, he said. “Coiloga won’t get away this time.” He flew into space, dogfighting with a surface bound mothership.

* * *

On the ground, the other two faced down Coiloga himself. “Two against one? I can handle that.”, Coiloga stated. The three charged at each other, delivering a few slashes, before being shot back by Astral Leo.

“ ** _You can’t hope to take down two legendary powers._** ”, Astral Leo declared as he fired once more at point blank range, blowing both of them back.

“Let’s switch out.”, Jiro said as he swapped with Barry’s Bear Zord.

“Let’s do this.”, Barry said as he linked up.

Astral Leo knocked Coiloga back with a punch from its new appendage. Then the Shooting Star brought its club down on Coiloga, who blocked it. “I can still stand up to two of you.”, he declared. Then he had to block a blow from Astral Leo.

“You’re open.”, Yuri said, detaching Astral Leo to attack Coiloga by breaking his claw. Then the Shooting Star bowed its head, blasting the enemy with heat from its thruster. Then Astral Leo reattached, summoning it’s Astral Blaster.

* * *

In space, Proton flew backwards from the mothership, preparing his final attack. “Voyager Burning Double Calibur!” The Fire Voyager used its twin swords to destroy the ship.

* * *

Down on the planet, Yuri prepped Astral Leo’s own final attack. “Astral Projection Blast!” They were joined by the Shooting Star’s own final attack, which proved to be more than Coiloga could absorb into himself.

“This can’t be. I’m the strongest in the universe.”, Coiloga growled. “I was meant to crush you, not the other way around.” He fell to the ground, exploding.

The Fire Voyager landed as the Rangers all stated “This Space is ours!”

* * *

** Planet Black, the Dark Nebula. **

Gingaku watched all this occur from his chamber. “So, Coiloga has also fallen.”, he noted, before turning towards the image of his spy in a hologram. “Make sure his remains are gathered. I want him repaired.”

“ _Noted, my Lord.”_ , the spy responded. “ _Now the Rangers will only have one Legendary Sphere left to find. Cassiopeia-38. Is the trap on that planet set?”_

“Our agent assured me it’s only in need of springing.”, came the reply. “Soon, the Power Rangers will be no more.”Gingaku closed the communication and turned towards the returning Dark Soul. “And now, my shadow. What will we do with you?”

“Please, give me another chance.”, Dark Soul begged. “Next time, I will defeat the Red Ranger once and for all.”

“Not in the sorry state he left you in.”, Gingaku said mockingly. “But, I suppose that you could beat him, with a few upgrades.” Dr. Cerebron entered the room in his new body. “Which Dr. Cerebron here will see to.”

“It’ll be my pleasure.”, Dr. Cerebron laughed.

* * *

** Planet Kaien, the Lion Galaxy. **

The 10 Rangers returned to the ship, all wearing medals. “Well it seems someone got rewarded.”, Mila said. “I kind of wish I’d come along.”

“It was the least the Princess could’ve done to thanks us for freeing her, and her people.”, Yuri said. “Plus, we came away with two of the Cosmo Spheres we’re looking for.”

“Plus, I can probe Coiloga’s memories to try and find out if there are any traps for when we get to Planet Black.”, Corvelia suggested.

“Good idea, I can help you.”, Heath suggested.

“I work best alone.”, Corvelia insisted. “Sorry.”

“Nevertheless, we’ve had a good day.”, Myron said. “Dramatic reveals notwithstanding. Now we only need to get one more Cosmo Sphere and we’ll be able to launch an attack on Gingaku himself.”

“So, what planet is it on?”, Barry asked.

“According to my scanner, it’s on the planet Niloas, a planet of warrior monks on the edge of known space. It’s a long way from here.”

“I’m sure we can make it there.”, Yuri said. “After all like I told Coiloga, if we all put our minds towards a common goal, we can accomplish anything.”

With that said, the Shooting Star ship took off, heading towards its next adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 37 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> I tried to fit in two separate backstories and the continuation of the ongoing plot, but I’m not sure how well I did. Let me know. 
> 
> If anyone’s curious, I will share the story of what the other 6 got up to on Periculum. But for now, I’ll leave it vague.


	30. One More Cosmo Sphere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers search for the final Legendary Cosmo Sphere leads Mila to a reunion with an old friend. But Myron suspects a trap on the planet.

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

As the Ranger’s home base flew through the Cepheus System, en route to their destination, Winda picked something up on the relay. “Incoming transmission from the planet Niloas.”, she reported.

“That’s odd.”, Drago said. “No-one on that planet should know we’re coming. They’re not an advanced civilisation.”

“It might be a declaration of war.” Proton suggested. “Everyone should get into position, just in case.”

Winda brought up the message, which showed a young, humanoid male. “I know him.”, Mila realised. “That’s Kota, my best friend from the Verde ninja school on planet Talpa. Play the message.”

Winda complied. “ _Hey, Mila.”, Kota said. “I heard that you joined up with other Power Rangers, like you. And that you’ve been freeing the universe from Gingaku. I think that the monks of this planet have something that could help you in your journey. But you’ll have to come and see for yourself._ ” The message ended there.

Myron was apprehensive about the message. “Something seems off about this.”, he said. “Are you sure we can trust this Kota guy?”

“Oooohhhh, someone’s jealous.”, Mila said jokingly. She smacked Myron on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ve known Kota since we were both kids. I’d trust him with my life.” She walked off, preparing to depart for the planet.

* * *

** Planet Niloas, Cassiopeia System. **

A landing party, consisting of Yuri, Myron, Jiro, Cobras, Mila, Winda, Drago and Proton made planetfall. Once they did so, they saw a squat creature, with an oriental style outfit and a helmet with a tiled pattern. “Where are they?”, the alien said to himself. “They should’ve been here by now.”

“Who’s he talking about?”, Cobras asked.

“I think he’s in the Gingaku files.”, Winda replied. “But I can’t access his for some reason. He must be planning a sneak attack.”

“Well his plans going to go like those of mice and men.”, Mila said, jumping out to confront the alien. “Hey ugly.”

The alien turned to face her, with a look of panic. “You’re here.”

“Of course I am.”, Mila said, pulling out her Cosmo Blade. “And you soon won’t be.”

“Um, on second thought, I think I hear my mother calling.”, the alien said. “Gotta go.” He turned and ran off into the woods.

“Come back here.”, Mila said, running off after him.

From the bushes, Yuri facepalmed. “Did she really just…?”

“Yes she did.”, Myron answered her. “Then again, it’s not surprising. Remember what she told us about how she met Drago?”

“How could I forget?”, Drago asked. “I was there.”

“Anyway, we’d better follow her.”, Proton said. He led everyone in getting out of the clearing and into the woods.

* * *

In the woods, Mila was running until she saw someone ahead of her. “I’ve got you now, freak.”, she said, charging towards him and knocking him down. But then she got a good look at who she’d attacked.

“Hey, is that anyway to greet an old friend?”, Kota asked. “I’m surprised you were out here already.”

Mila hugged him. “I’m so sorry, Kota. I thought you were someone else for a second.”, she said.

The other Rangers came running. “Where’s the emergency?”, Jiro asked.

“It seems to have left on its own.”, Cobras answered. “But Mila seems to have found something else.”

“Speaking of whom.”, Yuri said as he went over to Mila and slapped her. “That’s for running off on your own.” Then he noticed who she was with. “You must be Kota.”

“Indeed I am.”, Kota replied, bowing. “And you’re the famous Power Rangers who've been saving the universe. The honour is all mine.”

“Yes, ‘honour’.”, Myron said. “How exactly did you hear of us?”, he asked Kota.

“I… heard of you when I set off into the universe.”, was Kota’s answer.

“And you managed to get away from your planet how?”, came a follow-up question. “Coiloga said he destroyed the Verde school’s students after Mila left.”

“I wasn’t with the school during the invasion.”, was Kota’s answer. “I managed to get away and find a ship, using it to fly away from Talpa. That’s how I ended up here.”

“I think that’s enough questions for now.”, Mila said, putting herself between the two men. “How about you introduce us to the monks of this planet?”

“It’s my pleasure.”, Kota said. “Follow me.”

As he led the group on, Yuri went over to Myron and whispered “What was that about? You seemed a lot more abrasive than usual about this guy.”

“Something about him stinks.”, Myron whispered back. “How did he know we were called the Power Rangers if he came straight here? Talpa was cut off from the universe, as is this planet.”

Yuri gained a shocked look on his face. “Should we keep an eye on Kota then?”

“Maybe.”

* * *

** The Shooting Star Ship. **

Up in orbit, Heath was voicing similar suspicions to Slash, Scales, Tarrant and Barry. “Something stinks about Corvelia. She’s hiding something.”, he said.

“What makes you say that?”, Barry asked.

“She looks like a Horusian, but a few days ago, she was drinking lemonade.”, Heath answered. “That would’ve corroded a real Horusian’s internal organs like a robot drinking battery acid. Uh, no offence Scales and Tarrant.”

“None taken.”, the former replied. “You’re not the only one noting something off. The other day, I saw her taking a spanner into the lab for what she said was an old project. But I distinctly remember her being classified as a biologist and a cosmologist, not a mechanic.”

“I’ve heard enough.”, Tarrant said, pounding his fist on the table. “We need to find out what’s going on around her and stop it.”

“Well what’re we waiting for?”, Slash asked. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

** Planet Niloas. **

Kota led the Rangers into a temple where, they saw several warriors practising fighting moves. “The people here believe in discipline of the mind and body in order to improve one’s self.”, Kota explained. “They were all too happy to take me in when I came to this planet.”

“I see.”, Myron said as he looked at the monks, hoping to find something off. But nothing appeared to be.

“Ah, I see we have some newcomers to our humble order’s temple.”, an elderly-looking humanoid woman with red skin said.

“Grand Abbottess, this is a friend of mine.”, Kota said, indicating Mila. “I invited her to visit me here on Niloas.”

“Ah, I see.”, the Grand Abbottess nodded. “And I also see that she brought some friends along with her. How delightful. Perhaps your friend would like to accompany me, Kota.”

“Good idea.”, Drago said. “Where should we go.”

The Abbottess put her hand up, outstretched. “I’m sorry, but the offer doesn’t extend to you people. Only the female.”, she said.

“That’s not fair.”, Jiro whined. “We want to see this too.”

Mila interjected in the argument. “If I may, Grand Abbottess. Guys, I don’t need you following me around here. I’m in a camp of martial artists, just like the one I grew up in. I should be able to feel at home without you following me around.”

“A very sound suggestion, Mila.”, Kota said. “Shall we go?”

The Grand Abbottess led Mila and Kota away, into what Yuri presumed was the great hall. The rest of the Rangers were surrounded by the monks, who stopped training and turned toward the Rangers, menacing looks on their faces.

* * *

** The Shooting Star Ship. **

In the lab, Corvelia was working on a project. “It won’t be long now.”, she said. “Soon my surprise for the Rangers will be ready.”

Then she heard a slam on the door. “Open up.”, Slash called out. “We know you’re in there.”

“Curses.”, Corvelia said, covering her work with a blanket and opening the door, allowing the Rangers in. “What’s the trouble?”, she asked, feigning ignorance.

“Don’t play the innocent.”, Tarrant said. “We’re onto you Corvelia, or whoever you are. Because we know you’re not her.”

Corvelia tutted. “I should’ve known that you’d cotton on eventually. Yes, I’m not the real Corvelia. That traitor is rotting somewhere I don’t care to find out about. I faked her information to infiltrate this ship and send information back to Gingaku.”

“Well we’ve established what you’re doing here.”, Scales said. “But we don’t know who you are.”

“Ah yes, the DNA cloak I’m wearing works too well.”, the enemy said, before pulling out a device. “Perhaps this should clear things up.” She pressed the button and began dancing around as her image faded into another. “Ah, that’s better.”, Tricerodo said. “How do Horusians cope with all of those feathers?”

“I know you.”, Scales said. “You’re that witch who turned my buddy into your patsy.”

“How nice of you to remember me.”, Tricerodo said. “Let’s see if you remember my comrade here.” The blanketed experiment rose up to reveal Coiloga, back from the grave. “I wasn’t able to bring his mind back to normal, but I did restore his motor functions.”

“So that’s why she recovered his body.”, Barry realised. “We need to stop these two here.”

“Indeed.”, Slash said, leading everyone in pulling out their Cosmo Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Un-” They were interrupted by a charging Coiloga, with Tricerodo also joining in the fight.

* * *

** Planet Niloas. **

The Rangers were still staring down the monks. It was Jiro who decided to break the tension. “Hey guys, let’s not get off on the wrong foot.” He brushed his claws against the nearest monk’s robes. “After all, we are honoured…” he saw that he had torn the monks outfit to reveal a Gingaku logo “guests.”

The monks all pulled off their robes and faces to reveal that they were Detainers. “It’s a trap.”, Drago declared. “They were waiting for us.”

The Rangers and Detainers engaged in combat with each other. “How did Kota and the Abbottess not know about this?”, Winda asked.

“Maybe they did.”, Myron suggested. “There’s no way this kind of infiltration would go unnoticed. I was right about Kota.” He did a quiet fist-pump while saying this.

“Never mind that now.”, Yuri said. “Mila’s in danger. We need to get to her.” He and Myron pushed a pair of Detainers aside and ran for the Great Hall.

* * *

And in the Great Hall, Mila was admiring various artefacts. “This coronet is really beautiful, Grand Abbottess.”, she said.

“Why thank you.”, the Grand Abbottess said. “Perhaps you'd like to try it on.”

Mila was surprised to hear this. You’d really allow me to do this? Me, an outsider?”

“It’s a sign of respect.”, Kota informed her. “We do that to all newcomers.”

“Okay then.” Mila sat down and allowed the Abbottess to pick up the coronet and place it on her head.

It was at that moment that Yuri and Myron burst into the room. “Wait, stop!”, the former called out.

But it was too late. Mila had the coronet placed on her head, causing her to adopt a blank face. “I live to serve Gingaku and crush their enemies.”, she said in a monotone.

“You’re too late, Rangers.”, Kota said. “Mila is now under the path of the righteous, like I have been for years.”

“You’ve joined up with Gingaku willingly.”, Myron said with contempt. “How could you? Mila trusted you as a friend.”

“If she really thought I was a true friend, she wouldn’t have abandoned the students of the school to the non-existent mercy of Coiloga.”, Kota said with a sneer. “I made a choice to sell out their location so I could join the winning side. After all, I can be my true self now that I’m with the organisation.” He stepped forward, grabbing at his face and pulling it off, along with his clothes and skin, turning his body into something else.

“Hey, you’re that creature we saw earlier.”, Myron realised. “That explains a few things about your actions, Kota.”

“Pfft, I’ve no reason to be using that name anymore.”, Kota said, his voice now deeper. “I am now the supreme warrior, I am Diskus.”

“And what about you?”, Yuri turned to the Grand Abbottess. “What’s your part in all this?”

“Oh, I’ve never met you before.”, the Abbottess said as she laughed. “But you’ve seen my face.” She pulled off her own skin and clothes to reveal a red-skinned woman, with a thick breathing mask over most of her face, with her yellow eyes instead covered by a plastic visor, a metal hat with a satellite dish on the side, arms and legs that were mechanical, with forearms and part of one leg being mechanical and a set of metal shoulder pads to complete the look. “I am Cha-ChaMari. The original one, not one of those clones you fought before.”

“So you’re the real one.”, Yuri said. “What’s your position within Gingaku that they decided you should be cloned?”

“I am the daughter of Gingaku himself.”, Cha-ChaMari declared. “I wasn’t aware there were clones of me until I got pulled to the planet Tempus by its effect, where I saw your yellow friend battling one of them. And then he damaged my body before I was sent back. After that, I demanded that Dr. Cerebron end the cloning project and rebuild me in a more powerful body. A more powerful body that I shall use to destroy you.” She turned to Mila. “Servant, execute the orange one.”

“Yes, mistress.”, Mila said, summoning up her Cosmo Blade and swinging it at Myron, who ducked and began trying to defend himself as they left the room.

“And I’ll make sure the Detainers are dealing with the other Rangers.”, Diskus said as he walked out.

“That just leaves you and me, red boy.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she brandished her weapon. She pressed a button on a nearby machine, causing the background to change to that of a cityscape. “Do yourself a favour and take me to your ship.”

“What’s wrong with the ship you used to get here?”, Yuri asked as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere.

“Oh, nothing.”, Cha-ChaMari answered him. “I just want to settle the score with your yellow friend. Plus I’m sure Daddy would be happy if I gave him a present in the form of the Rangers’ captured ship.”

“Well, you’re not going to get your hands on it.”, Yuri said as he inserted his Sphere into his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He morphed into the Red Ranger. “Let’s dance, Princess.” He ran towards her, pulling out and inserting another Cosmo Sphere. “Double-25 Cosmo Sphere, activate!” He split into two copies of himself, after a few failed hits. The copy tried to land a hit, but was blocked as well. “How’d you know…?”

“‘That you’d pull that manoeuvre off?’.”, Cha-ChaMari finished. “I have battle data from all of your battles in my brain, thanks to these implants. I can predict any move you make.”

“Ok then.”, Yuri said, demorphing and dispersing his double. “Perhaps we can form an agreement.”

* * *

Outside, Myron was still fighting off Mila. “You have to fight the control, Mila.”, he said, defending with his Cosmonata. “This isn’t you.”

“I have my orders.”, Mila said, as the coronet continued to glow. “I must destroy you.”

The two crossed weapons, with Myron taking the opportunity to break the coronet with his stinger tail. “If this doesn’t free you, I don’t know what will.”

Mila regained consciousness. “What? Where am I?”, she asked.

“You’re still on Niloas.”, Myron informed her. “I was right about your friend. He was part of a trap to lure us in and brainwash you.”

Mila was shocked to hear this. “Kota did this to me?”

Myron nodded. “That creature you saw in the woods? That was him.”

Before the conversation could continue further, both received a message on their communicators. It was from Scales. “ _We’re under attack. Tricerodo has infiltrated the ship and revived Coiloga. We need help._ ” Then the message cut off.

“You go.”, Mila said to Myron. I have business to settle with my old friend.” Myron nodded and summoned his Zord, flying up into the atmosphere.

* * *

Across the courtyard, the other Rangers had dealt with most of the Detainers. “There’s only a few of these guys left.”, Proton called out. “Then we can move on to Kota and that woman.”

“How about one of us comes to you?” Diskus appeared, throwing disk like weapons at the Rangers knocking them down. “After all I’ve heard, you’re all disappointing. I’m not going to relish destroying you.”

“Kota!” Diskus turned around to see an angry Mila approaching. “Is it true? Did you really betray me to Gingaku?”

“I see you escaped from my mind control.”, Diskus said as he returned to his appearance as Kota. “Then again, I shouldn’t have expected less from you.”

“Answer me.”, Mila said simply. “Why did you betray me? Betray our people?”

“Your people.”, Kota stated. “I’ve always been another species to you. My parents died in a crash on your planet, while I survived. I was hunted down and treated like a monster for several weeks, while the rest of our ship’s crew were slaughtered. I learned to disguise myself as a native, integrating myself into your culture and being taken in by Verde to ensure a stable life. I latched onto you as a friend due to being a fellow outcast, which is why I was saddened that you chose to run away when Gingaku attacked. I joined with Gingaku both to live as myself once more and to find you and bring you back to me. And this time, I’d make sure you wouldn’t leave me again.”

“Why you.”, Mila growled. She went over to the other Rangers and pulled out her Cosmo Sphere. “I think you guys know what time it is.”

“Of course we do.”, Winda said. “It’s Morphing Time, correct?”

“Correct.”, Mila said. Everyone pulled out their Spheres and inserted them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Rise, Change!”

In a few seconds, the 6 Rangers were all morphed.

“Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

“Glimmer of the Serpent, Silver Ranger!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

“Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

“Roar of the Dragon, Dragon Ranger!”

“The Burning Challenger! Fire Knight!”

“Bringing the universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

Diskus once more assumed his true form. “Let’s show these goons what for.”, Drago said, pointing at the enemy. “Attack!”

The Rangers engaged in battle with the Detainers, with Drago managing to thoroughly punch one into submission, before knocking it out with his Staff. “Nice one.”, Cobras said.

“I can handle these guys.”, Proton insisted. “You deal with Kota, or whatever he calls himself.”

“Good advice.”, Drago said, as he pulled out three Cosmo Spheres, which he threw at Jiro, Cobras and the girls. “Use these to fight.”, he called.

“Crane-81, activate!”, Winda announced.

“Hydro Serpent-65, activate!”, Cobras followed.

“Feline-85, activate!”, Mila added.

Finally Jiro received his. “Lupus-52, activate!” The 4 Rangers all fired their blasts, before charging at Diskus, while Proton made good on his promise to fight off the Detainers.

Diskus engaged in battle with the Rangers, who had received various Kung-Fu techniques from their Cosmo Spheres. Jiro used the Dog technique to move backwards, before everyone else attacked. “Crane power!”, Winda called out, hitting Diskus with her hand, using it like a beak.

“Snake power!”, Cobras called out, using his hands like a pair of fangs.

“Cat power!”, Mila scratched at her old friend with her bare hands.

Jiro was about to attack, when he had a realisation. “This is just my usual style.”, he said to the Commander.

“Try this then.”, Drago said, throwing the Pup-66 Cosmo Sphere at him.

Jiro grabbed it and tried it out. “Pup-66, activate!” However, instead of fighting, he began approaching Diskus like an affectionate puppy.

Diskus was confused, but took it in his stride. “Who’s a good little confused dog? You is. Yes, you is.” He then kicked the Ranger aside, before jumping over Cobras’ back and delivering a powerful kick to the three remaining Rangers. “Don’t think I forgot my Verde training.”, he said.

“I’d hope not.”, Mila said. “Because I’ve got something I intend to beat you with.”, she pulled out the Pegasus-33 Sphere, inserting it into her Morpher. “Plus Up!” She summoned Pegasus onto herself. “Ready for this, old man?”, she asked.

“You know it.”, came the response. “Let’s dance, big boy.” He and Mila proceeded to deliver a series of jumping manoeuvres that allowed the to both avoid Diskus’ hits and deliver several blows to the enemy, which eventually knocked him down.

“Time to end this.”, Mila said, inserting the Pegasus Sphere onto her Cosmo Blade. “Pegasus Energy Strike!” She launched a slash, which knocked Diskus back again.

“I won’t let this be my end.”, Diskus said. He activated his own growth implant, increasing to giant size. “How do you like me now?”

“We don’t.”, Drago said as he stepped forward. “Let’s do this.” He summoned the Dragon Zord, which combined with Silver as the right arm and Blue as the left. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

“We’ll take you down here and now.”, Drago said to Diskus, before engaging him in battle. However, the enemy was able to block or avoid most of their hits, before delivering a kick to their back and striking them down the front.

“Take this.”, Diskus announced as he rolled over the robot’s back once more and delivered a series of slashes with one of his disks.

“We need to switch out.”, Drago said. “Ladies, if you’d please.”

“Ok.” Winda and Mila summoned their Zords, which took over as the right and left arms respectively.

In the next fight, Mila knocked Diskus’ weapons out of his hands with her Chameleon Tonge Attack. Then Winda delivered a slash to the enemy with her Wing Blade. “Proton, can I borrow your Voyager?”, Drago asked.

“Okay, but I want it back.”, Proton replied. He summoned the Fire Voyager, which had its thruster component detach from the shuttle and take the Zords’ place as the arms, with Pink and Silver on the right arm and Green and Blue on the left.

“Dragon Voyager Megazord, ready!”, the 5 Rangers declared.

“This isn’t good.”, Diskus said, as the Megazord launched itself at him, delivering a series of rapid kicks, that blew up in his face.

“Let’s finish this.”, Mila said.

“Alright,”, Drago said, opening and closing his Drago Staff. “Dragonic Ignition!” The Megazord flew into the air, before coming back down at incredible speed and kicking Diskus.

“I really wanted us to be together.”, Diskus called out as he exploded.

“Goodbye, Kota.”, Mila said, while the rest of the pilots went deadly silent.

* * *

** The Shooting Star Ship. **

Tarrant, Slash and Barry were still struggling with Coiloga and Tricerodo. “Didn’t anyone get the message Scales sent out?”, Barry asked.

“Even if someone did receive your message, it wouldn’t help you.”, Tricerodo gloated. “No-one could possibly help you against two of Gingaku’s closest allies.”

“Don’t be too sure.”, Myron declared, teleporting in and slashing at the two enemies, knocking hem down.. “Sorry, I’m late.”, he said to the crew.

“Actually, you’re right on time.”, Heath replied. “Now we just need to get these two off the ship.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” Cha-ChaMari teleported in with Yuri. “You’re going to give me - and them - control of the ship so we can get back to Planet Black.”

“You must be the original Cha-ChaMari, I’ve heard about you.”, Heath said to her. “I worked with two of your clones, killed one of them myself. You do realise that you can’t just go to Planet Black, not with the barrier keeping everything out.”

“I have my methods.”, Cha-ChaMari assured him. “Now then, get this ship ready to transport us.”

“Ok, you win.”, Yuri said. He went over to one terminal. “First, we flip down this lever, input some co-ordinates into here and from there, it’s just a matter of hitting the launch button on the main terminal.” He then moved to walk off. “I think you can take things from here, Princess.” Barry realised something about what the terminal did, but said nothing, for fear of giving the plot away.

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere.”, Cha-ChaMari insisted, firing at the door with her arm cannon. “I’m taking all of you back home with me as a present to Daddy. Perhaps then he’ll notice me.”

“Ok then, we’ll come with you.”, Yuri said, sitting at the control terminal. He pressed the launch button. “Off you go.”

“You mean, off WE go?”, Cha-ChaMari asked, as she, Tricerodo and Coiloga were surrounded with a blue light. “No, what’s happen-?”, she got out before vanishing.

Now that the three Gingaku higher-ups were gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “Yuri rigged it up so that the ship’s launch system would activate the long-range teleport.”, Myron summarised. “And since only Coiloga would’ve known the truth, and his mind was dead, Cha-ChaMari didn’t catch on to the ruse until it was too late.”

“That’s all well and good.”, Tarrant said. “But why didn’t he tell us about his plan? We could’ve helped.”

“We did.”, Slash answered him. “By not knowing the details outright, he was able to ensure our reactions were genuine enough to fool her. Plus, if you had known, you’d just have blurted it out for the world to hear.”

“Well, we’d better get the ship back to normal functions.”, Scales suggested. “Otherwise the others will be stuck on that planet forever.”

* * *

** Planet Niloas. **

Sometime later, the Shooting Star ship touched down on the planet, with Yuri and Myron running over to the temple. There, they found a despondent Mila sitting down. “Did you do it?”, Myron asked.

“We did it.”, was Mila’s response. “But I’m not sure the cost was worth it.”

“He tried to turn you against us.”, Yuri pointed out. “He was one of them.”

“But he was still my friend.”, Mila replied, barely holding back tears. “You can’t know what it’s like to see someone you trusted turn against you.”

Myron sighed. “You’re forgetting that my own brother made me watch as he abandoned his own morals to conquer Earth. And Yuri here recently found out that his best friend was trying to kill him for months.”

“Plus Drago had a friendship with Squideyasu, that didn’t end well.”, Yuri added. “If anything, this whole thing’s teaching us we should be careful about who we trust. Sometimes the people we’d trust with our lives will end up taking them.”

Mila perked up at this. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We should remember the people we’ve befriended as we knew them, not as what they become without us.”

The conversation was interrupted by a call from Drago. “Hey, we’ve found the Cassiopeia Sphere. We’ve got all 4 needed to break the barrier.”

“Best news I’ve heard all day.”, Yuri said, walking over to him, but not before turning back to the other two. “If we really want to remember our friends as they were, then we have to take down the one who turned them against us in the first place.”

“Gingaku.”, Mila said for him.

“Well, what’re we waiting for?”, Myron asked. “There’s nothing to it, but to do it.” The three then set off walking towards Drago, the setting sun in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 38 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> This chapter is coming out slightly early since I have some urgent business on Friday. 
> 
> I’ve been planning this chapter out for a while, which caused me to introduce Kota earlier in the fic. 
> 
> Niloas is “Shaolin” spelt backwards with the h removed.
> 
> The feint Yuri pulls is cribbed from the Doctor Who comic “The Crossroads of Time”.


	31. Assault on Planet Black, Part 1: Bombardment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers finally launch their attack on the planet Black. Separated by circumstances, Yuri confronts Dark Soul once more, while Mila leads a team against Gingaku’s greatest warriors.

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

En route to the Dark Nebula for another attempt to attack the Planet Black, the Rangers gathered around for a meeting. “So to recap, we have acquired the 4 Legendary Cosmo Spheres that can disrupt the barrier long enough to launch our attack.”, Winda said.

“Perseus-36, Cassiopeia-38, Andromeda-40 and Cepheus-54.”, Myron continued. “The plan is to have 4 of us use those Spheres from our Megazords at the ends of the barrier.” He brought up a diagram, showing that the barrier was in the shape of a perfect cross. “This will disrupt the barrier from its sources and keep it open long enough to let us get in and out.”

“And once they take the barrier down, you’ll all be beaming onto the Planet Black, where Gingaku’s palace is located.”, Heath took over. “There will be some resistance, but I’m sure you can handle that.”

“That’s a given.”, Scales commented. “We defeated two of the Victorious Generals together. There’s not much bigger than them, other than Gingaku himself.”

Jiro raised his hand. “Wait, we need all 4 Megazords to do this? Then how’re we going to control the Cosmo Megazord, given that Yuri will need to be piloting the Shooting Star in order to make the plan work?”

“I’m glad you asked.”, Proton answered him, slamming the All Zords Sphere down on the table. “Since you asked, you can use this to do it.”

“Well, everything’s in place for our assault.”, Drago said, before turning to the other Rangers. “Everyone, let’s go.”

“Ok.”, Everyone else in the Ranger team replied, pumping their arms.

“Good luck everyone.”, Heath said as the Rangers made for the launch bay.

* * *

**Planet Black, the Dark Nebula.**

Within the antechamber of Gingaku’s palace, Cha-ChaMari entered, accompanied by the three Victorious Generals. “Katseayor has been successfully revived, Father.”, she reported. “And Coiloga’s mental faculties have been restored to full working order.”

“Good.”, Gingaku said. “We need all of our forces for the coming battle with the Rangers. Now that they’ve acquired the 4 lights, an attack is inevitable.”

“Let them come.”, Katseayor said arrogantly. “Thanks to Coiloga, I’ve been made aware of my true potential.”

“Yes, with you two willing to work with me, the Rangers won’t stand a chance of taking our planet.”, Coiloga declared.

“Don’t get cocky.”, Dark Soul said, as he entered with Dr. Cerebron. “The Rangers have only become more powerful through their battles with us. While our forces have dwindled to fractions of our former might, too scattered to organise a defence.”

“Don’t worry yourself about gathering forces.”, Tricerodo said, dancing around. “I’ve called in an army of Detainers to be cloned by the Replicans. And every Gearoid, Commanaga and Neo-Bullroid fresh off the factory line to be sent to provide defence.”

“Besides, you don’t have the right to call us out on being weak.”, Cha-ChaMari stated, pointing at Dark Soul. “Didn’t you lose to the Red Ranger? Badly, I might add.”

“Says the one who got mutilated by the Yellow Ranger, who I may add, isn’t even the best of their fighters.”, was Dark Soul’s reply. “Anyway, thanks to Dr. Cerebron, I won’t lose again in the rematch.”

“Indeed.”, Dr. Cerebron nodded. “I’ve infused Dark Soul here with the energies of all our greatest warriors. He’ll be as powerful as the Big Bang Ranger, if not more so.”

“Don’t place too much trust in yourself.”, Gingaku said. “I have brought forth a warrior to deal with the Rangers.” A figure with a cross surrounding his head, wielding blades attached to his arms, and sporting a blue and gold colouration with the crest on his cross and a collar from which a cape bellowed, walked into the room, forcing the doors open and walking forward dramatically.

“Crosslice, at your service my Lord.”, the newcomer said, bowing down.

Then a shadow appeared over the window that was the only natural light in the room, plunging them into near darkness. “They’re here.”, Dark Soul stated, “We have to move.”

* * *

**The Barrier’s 4 Points.**

Proton formed the Fire Voyager and landed on the planet north of the barrier. “It’s time to bring an end to Gingaku once and for all.”, he stated.

On the east point of the barrier, Drago combined with Barry forming the right arm and Cobras as the left arm. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready for action.”

On the west, Yuri transformed the Shooting Star ship into its robotic form. “Shooting Star Megazord, ready!” Then he saw a massive attack fleet overhead. “And I’m not alone.”

Finally, on the South Point, Astral Leo assumed his Megazord mode with Yellow as the right arm, Green as the left arm, Black as the right leg and Orange as the left leg. Jiro sat in the main cockpit. “Astral Leo Megazord, ready!” They turned around to see a giant Neo-Bullroid approaching.

“Looks like we’re going to be busy here.”, Jiro said as he charged the Megazord in to battle with the enemy robot.

 _{{+++Calculating power levels. Increase vector limit. Open thruster relay+++}}_ the Neo-Bullroid attempted to compute an escape route.

But it found none. “ _ **You stand no chance against my might**_.”, Astral Leo stated as he punched the enemy once more.

Mila was buffeted by this. “Try to remember that we are inside you, Astral Leo.”, she called out.

“I’m sure he remembers.”, Jiro insisted. “I’m literally inside him. Let’s finish this.” He pushed the Cosmo Sphere back twice, activating the final attack.

“ ** _Astral Projection Break!_** ” Astral Leo fired a beam at the enemy, destroying it. “ ** _As they say, this Space is ours._** ”

“Yuri, how you doing?”, Jiro asked.

“It could be better.”, Yuri replied as he continued to fight off the fleet by himself. He still managed to destroy them all. “And it is now.”

“Nothing on our end.”, Drago reported.

“Good. Let’s unleash the 4 powers.”, Proton said. He, Drago, Jiro and Yuri activated the 4 Legendary Cosmo Spheres and activated them. Their Megazords unleashed a wave of energy that converted at the centre of the barrier, shattering it.

“That’s the easy part.”, Yuri radioed in. “The hard part has yet to come.”

* * *

**Planet Dark.**

In a dimly lit room, Dr. Cerebron looked around to see several figures in cubicles. “We might not be able to create a larger army, but that doesn’t mean we can’t recruit one.” He went over to a computer terminal and began adjusting the controls. “Soon, you’ll all be awake, but with a new purpose in your miserable lives. Oh the Power Rangers will be surprised at what hits them.” He then began to laugh.

* * *

Elsewhere on the Planet, the Rangers came down, now unmorphed, in the same area. “I can’t believe it.”, Mila said. “I can’t believe we managed to land on the Gingaku Brainworld. How many people have dreamed of doing this?”

“Probably not many.”, Myron answered her. “Most people would want to stay away from this place. I came here once as part of my time with Gingaku. Going back has never been a priority of mine.”

“I’ve also been here several times.”, Winda stated. “In fact, I still have a map of the palace for us to plan our assault. If you’ll behold my view projector.” She generated a 3D image of the structure. “There are three entrances on the lowest level, two on the middle level and one on the highest level.”

“The middle section seems like a good place for an assault.”, Proton suggested. “I’ll take Cobras, Mila and Myron to target that receiver. Then we can send a message to everyone that Gingaku is finished as a major power.”

Myron scowled at this. “Targeting that receiver isn’t really what I want to get done. I think that the lab should be a main target.”

“I’ll handle that.”, Tarrant said. “You’re not the only one who wants to see that lab destroyed. Other than myself, nothing good has come out of it. The sooner it’s gone, the better.”

Mila thought on Tarrant’s words. “What you’re saying… Are you suggesting that Dr. Cerebron is -?”

“Yes, he’s alive.”, Myron answered her. “Spectrum, Tricerodo and Coiloga have all said as much, to the point it makes sense of a lot of things. He must be somewhere Gingaku can ensure his continued assistance, ie the lab.”

“I’m going to make sure that he can’t make anything else.”, Tarrant said. “Winda, Scales, Drago, you're with me, infiltrating the bottom floor.”

“I guess that leaves me with the others.”, Yuri said. “I know that Gingaku will have Gregory close to him, and presumably Proton’s friend Corvin somewhere nearby.”

“I didn’t even know Proton had a friend.”, Barry commented.

“Yeah, I should’ve gone into more detail on my past at some point.”, Proton said. “But between our hectic quests, launching attacks on this planet twice and our need to sleep, I haven’t had a good opportunity.”

“We’ll discuss it later.”, Slash said. “For now, we should get to work on our respective quests.”

“Precisely my point.”

The Rangers all set off, separating into the three groups that had been decided. From above, they were observed by Cha-ChaMari, who was accompanied by Crosslice. “So, the Rangers have split up into groups. And one of them is headed for the centre level, which is supposedly the least well-guarded.”

“Until we get there.”, Crosslice added. “Then I’ll deal with the Rangers.”

* * *

On the lower level, Tarrant’s group came face-to-face with a group of Detainers and Commanagas. “Looks like we have some company.”, Scales noted.

“Well, it’s nothing we can’t handle.”, Drago said as he pulled out his Cosmo Sphere, with everyone else doing likewise. The 4 then inserted their Spheres into their Morphers. “Charge Up!”

“Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

The 4 Rangers were soon transformed and began fighting the enemies. Winda took down three of them with a few shots, while Scales proceeded to knock 4 more into each other. Tarrant and Drago took on the two Commanagas, with the former throwing his opponent over his head using a wrestling move and the latter locking weapons with his opponent briefly, before converting his Staff into Rifle mode and shooting his opponent. “Well that was easy.”, Tarrant stated. “They didn’t seem to be trying there.”

“Almost as if there’s a trap waiting.”, Winda noted. “We should proceed with caution.”

The Rangers opened the door, revealing a large room, where various figures were waking up from cubicles. “I think I know these guys.”, Scales said. “Oh I know, they’re Earth’s legendary Power Rangers.” He went over to the Red Ninja Ranger ( **Author’s note: officially, Ninja Storm’s is the Red WIND Ranger, while Ninja Steel’s is the Red NINJA Ranger** ) and held out his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you guys.” He received a slash to the chest for his troubles. “Was it something I said?”

Dr. Cerebron’s voice echoed. “ _Ha Ha Ha. I’ve made a few adjustments to the minds of these Rangers. They now serve our cause loyally as any soldier in our army. Good news for us, not so good news for you._ ” He then signed off.

“Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!”, the Red Ninja Ranger said, preparing his sword and bringing it down towards Scales, who barely managed to block the hit.

And so, a fight broke out, with the 4 Cosmic Rangers facing an army of Earth’s defenders. Winda tried flying to a higher ground, but the Yellow Wild Force Ranger intercepted her, slashing at her with her Golden Eagle Sword. Drago found himself in a sword fight with the SPD Shadow Ranger and the Beast Morphers Silver Ranger, with the latter being taken out much easier than the former. Tarrant charged through a group of the physically strongest Rangers, until he met the Beast Morphers Blue Ranger, who gave him a fist fight which was almost evenly matched. However, the artificial Gorilla Strength of the latter was no match for Tarrant’s immense weight. Scales shot his way through more of them, until he met with the Red Lightspeed Ranger. “Ah, a fellow marksman, I see.”, Scales said. “Perhaps you’d be up for an old western showdown.” His opponent nodded. The two drew their firearms, turned away from each other, took ten steps back…

And then Scales was shot at by another figure, the Gold Ninja Ranger. “Did you really think we’d play fair?”, he asked.

“No.”, Scales replied. “But it did give Winda an opportunity to call upon something.”

“Correct.” Winda pulled out a Cosmo Sphere, which everyone took a look at. “It’s the same one Myron used to reverse brainwashing before.” She then inserted it into her Morpher. “Purity-60, Activate!” She fired a beam of energy, that showered down on all the brainwashed Rangers, rendering them unconscious.

* * *

On the middle floor, Mila’s group made it to the room they were aiming for. “Alright team, once we make it through this door, we can send our message to the universe.”, Proton said. “There’s no turning back from this point.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”, Cobras said. “Let’s go.”

However, the sides of the room were not a radio transmitter. Instead, it was a blank room with a few pillars. “Seems pretty sparse for a transmission relay.”, Cobras commented.

“It’s a trap.”, Myron realised.

“ _And you fell for it_.”, Cha-ChaMari’s voice echoed. “ _Did you really think a place like a radio transmitter would be marked on a map? You’ve walked right into the execution chamber. Your executioner is about to arrive._ ”

Crosslice walked into the room. “So you’re the Power Rangers. Executing you will be an honour.”

“Looks like we’ll have to deal with this creep as well.”, Myron said, pulling out his Cosmo Sphere. “Guys, ready?”

“Ready!”, everyone else said, pulling their own Sphere out. Everyone inserted their Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!/Rise! Change!” In an instant, the 4 Rangers were Morphed.

Proton took the first swing at Crosslice. “Take this.”, he declared, before he slashed him. However, it had no effect. “What the-?”

“You fool.”, Crosslice declared as he pushed Proton back. “I’m as tough as any of your precious Cosmo Spheres.”

“Really?”, Myron thought.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri’s group came across Dark Soul as they traversed the path to the upper level. “Tell your followers to go away.”, Dark Soul demanded. “This is between you and me.”

Slash tried to move forward, but he was stopped by Yuri. “Do as he says. Who knows what he’ll do to you otherwise.”

“Ok then.”, Slash replied. “Guys, we’re going on without Yuri.”, he said to the others, directing them to carry on.

“Gregory, I don’t want to hurt you.”, Yuri said. “I just want my friend back.”

“Your friend is gone.”, Dark Soul stated. “He perished in that shuttle accident. And thanks to Dr. Cerebron, there’s nothing left of him.” He surrounded himself with a dark aura, which shuddered as he transformed into a black, reptile-like appearance, with white armour that had a loincloth with Gingaku’s crest hanging from the waist. “I’m more than Gregory Packer, more than Dark Soul. I am Yamashi!”

“New look, same old lines.”, Yuri said. “If you’re so powerful now, then try beating me in your previous form.”

“As you wish.”, Yamashi said as he transformed back into Dark Soul and drew his sword. “Let’s go.”

“Ok then.”, Yuri said as he ran forward, morphing into the Red Ranger and drawing his Cosmo Saber. The two crossed swords as the battle of fate began.

* * *

Back in the execution chamber, Myron and Mila tried slashing at Crosslice, only for him to disappear. “You can’t stop me, Rangers.”, he declared as he reappeared and attacked Proton.

“Don’t be so sure.”, Cobras said as he used a forbidden ability of his species to freeze the enemy in position.

Myron then wrapped his stinger tail around Crosslice and pulled him towards him. “Go Mila.” Mila complied, running forward and slashing at Crosslice.

But Crosslice recovered from the hit quickly. “That won’t stop your doom.”, he stated as he fired his beam of energy at the Rangers, which Proton ran forward to block.

“Guys, let’s try the Legendary Cosmo Spheres on this guy.”, Cobras suggested.

“It’s worth a shot.”, Proton said. “Let’s do it.” He inserted the Cassiopeia Sphere into his Galaxy Saber, while Myron, Cobras and Mila did likewise with the Perseus, Cepheus and Andromeda Spheres into their own Morphers, before preparing their final attacks.

“Cross Cosmic Energy Strike!”, the 4 declared as they launched their energies at Crosslice, damaging him severely.

“No, I can’t go out like this.”, Crosslice declared. “I’m supposed to take you down.” He exploded, reverting to a Cosmo Sphere, which Myron picked up.

“It’s Southern Cross-73.”, he noted. “That just leaves number 46 to add to our collection. But I’m confused as to how this guy had it.”

“Maybe Gingaku brought him to life using it somehow.”, Cobras suggested. “But the good news is that our execution is off the table.”

“On the contrary,” Everyone turned around to see the three Victorious Generals standing there “it’s merely been delayed.”, Coiloga stated. They then charged forward and engaged the Rangers.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri was still fighting Dark Soul. “You don’t stand a chance.”, Dark Soul said as he threw Yuri down.

“Try me.”, Yuri said as he prepared a final attack, firing it at Dark Soul, who responded by charging his sword with energy. The two beams passed each other and hit their targets, knocking them both back. “You can’t let Gingaku boss you around anymore.”, Yuri called out. “Come back to me. To Pamela”

“You’re 5 years too late.”, Dark Soul informed him. “I have a new life now. And to cement it, I’ll get rid of you and everything that reminds me of the past.” He picked Yuri up and threw him over the railing, to his apparent doom. “Good riddance.”, Dark Soul said as he looked down on the pit, walking off.

* * *

Down in the execution chamber, the 4 Rangers were struggling with The 3 Generals. Proton and Cobras went for their grudge targets of Katseayor and Tricerodo, only for the latter two to essentially ignore them, taking out the other Rangers with their mace and blasts respectively. Coiloga then charged at the two Rangers, taking Proton down with his sword and slashing Cobras back with his claw. “They’re a lot tougher than I’ve ever seen them.”, Proton commented. “I’ve never seen them work so effectively.”

“Let’s just say I’ve taken your red friend’s words to heart.”, Coiloga gloated. “Teamwork and friendship are incredibly effective tactics, especially in taking you fools down.”

“We can’t hope to beat them all together by our powers alone.”, Mila stated. “We need to combine the powers of those 4 Spheres again.”

“Not just them.”, Myron added. “This Southern Cross Sphere can combine the 4 powers with its own for added strength.” He then pulled out the Leo-77 Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher. “Summon Penta Blaster!”

The small Leo Zord appeared, jumping into Myron’s arm and transforming into its cannon mode. Myron then plugged the Southern Cross Sphere onto the hilt of the cannon and opened the side of the weapon to reveal 4 slots. “I didn’t know his thing had this feature.” Mila commented, as she inserted the Sphere she had been using into the first slot.

“It’s still something that could turn the tide of battle for us.”, Cobras responded as he inserted his Legendary Sphere.

“We’ve still yet to test it.”, Proton said as he inserted the Cassiopeia Sphere.

“What’re you up to?”, Katseayor asked.

“Yes, wed like to destroy you sooner rather than later.”, Tricerodo scolded.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be right with you.”, Myron commented. He inserted his Legendary Sphere and closed the slot, charging the weapon. “Legendary Charge! Cross Ignition!” He fired the beam at the three Generals, who were unable to defend against the full power, being blown back. “So you can’t stand up to this power.”

“Not as our separate selves.”, Coiloga wheezed as he stood up. “But let’s see how our combined power fares, what do you say, my allies?”

“Yes, now is the time.”, Katseayor nodded. “Arporioshi!”

“Arporioshi!”, Tricerodo stated.

“Arporioshi!”, Coiloga also said.

“What’s happening?”, Mila asked. As if fate itself was answering her question, the 3 Victorious Generals jumped into the air, converting into blue outlines, which superimposed onto each other and rearranged their shape into a new one, which landed on the floor and regained colour. The new figure had a torso shaped like an upside down triangle, with legs similar to the shoulder decorations of the three Generals. It had metallic feet, silver with blue lines. It had blue shoulder pads with silver spikes sticking out the top. At the end of its left arm was Coiloga’s claw, while the right arm had Katseayor’s ball, with the chain wrapped around the arm. Coiloga’s head was in the centre of the new being, with wires reaching outwards around the neck, with Tricerodo’s weapon’s nozzle on the left. Tricerodo and Katseayor had their heads to the left and right of Coiloga’s respectively. “What’s that?”

“It’s the big guy Orbis had the first time I faced him down.”, Proton answered. “But I was sure I destroyed him then.”

“Who are you?”, Myron asked the new figure.

The recipient looked up with his centre head and spoke, with a combination of Coiloga’s voice, Katseayor’s accent and Tricerodo’s vocal patterns. “I am Arporioshi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 41 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Having Dark Soul evolve into Don Armage’s later forms was planned from early on. The name “Yamashi” is a mishmash of “Yami” (Dark) and “Tamashi” (Soul). 
> 
> Crosslice’s defeat at the hands of the Cassiopeia Cosmo Sphere homages the weakness of the Black Cross Fuhrer from the original Super Sentai Gorenger, with whom he shares a costume. 
> 
> I don’t normally cast my characters, but I’d like to imagine that Crosslice would be voiced by Derek Judge (Serrator from Samurai and Grizzaka from Jungle Fury)


	32. Assault on Planet Black Part 2: Aporioshi Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers must now contend with a being combined from their three greatest enemies so far. Even worse, Proton makes a horrifying discovery about Gingaku.

_In the last instalment, the Rangers used the power of the 4 Legendary Cosmo Spheres to disrupt the barrier around the Dark Nebula. They then launched their attack on Planet Black, splitting up to infiltrate the palace. Tarrant’s group discovered the fate of Earth’s Power Rangers, Yuri ended up left for dead at the hands of the empowered Dark Soul and Mila’s group faced down the Victorious Generals Coiloga, Tricerodo and Katseayor, who fused into a new being, identifying as Aporioshi._

* * *

As Mila’s group looked on, even Cha-ChaMari seemed shocked. “Aporioshi? He was my father’s greatest friend and most devoted follower. How did he come from the three Victorious Generals?”, she thought to herself.

* * *

In the room itself, the 4 Rangers looked on in shock at the sight. “That’s impossible.”, Proton exclaimed. “I fought and destroyed you before. How are you alive?”

“It’s true that the attack with your sword left me critically wounded.”, Aporioshi answered him. “However, my growth implant preserved my essence, although it was damaged as well. I was only able to be restored as three aspects of my personalities. Katseayor, my warrior’s spirit, Tricerodo, my ability to empathise and cunning, and Coiloga, my ruthlessness and lust for power.”

“So all this time our three greatest opponents… were really one split into three.”, Myron commented. 

As if on cue, Slash, Barry and Jiro ran into the room, launching their attacks on Aporioshi. However, he turned around and grabbed all three of them with his claw arm. “I see your friends have seen fit to join us.”, he commented as he threw them aside. “Unfortunately, my splinters have allowed me to improve my body significantly.” He launched his ball at the Rangers, knocking them back. “And now you shall witness my secret power. Thanks to the three aspects of my self, I have attained an Ultimate Growth Implant!” His legs began to glow as his body expanded, taking down a significant portion of the building through his growth. “Witness the Herculean Power I possess!”

“I see he’s just as theatrical as the rest of them.”, Mila noted. “Shall we?”

“But how?”, Cobras asked. “It’s impossible without Yuri or the Commander.”

“Not quite.”, Jiro said. “I still have the All Zords Sphere. We can control the Lion Zord without him.”

“Then what’re we waiting for?”, Slash asked. “Let’s do it.”

Everyone prepared their Zords except for Cobras and Jiro, who instead ran off, deciding to look for something else.

* * *

Down in the lower levels, Tarrant’s group also saw this. “Looks like we’re needed.”, Drago said as he saw the giant Aporioshi.

“I’ll stay behind.”, Winda insisted. “All these people need some help reacclimatising to being awake.”

“Well don’t be too long.”, Tarrant told her. “We need all the help we can get. Especially Yuri, wherever he is.” He, along with Drago and Scales, proceeded to summon their Zords and fly into the battle.

* * *

Gingaku witnessed the Rangers incoming. “Launch everything we have.”, he demanded. “Aporioshi needs all the help he can get.”

“Already on it.”, Cerebron nodded, pressing buttons on a console.

* * *

The Rangers found themselves under fire from giant Commanagas, Giant Neo-Bullroids and Gearoids. “These guys won’t be trouble.”, Drago said as he crashed his Dragon Zord into three of their targets, destroying them. “Now, let’s combine.”

“Alright.”, Barry and Myron responded. The three combined with Barry taking his place as the right arm, while Myron became the left arm. Proton meanwhile transformed the Fire Voyager into its Megazord mode.

The two Megazords landed, standing back to back. “Let’s take out these guys together.”, Proton said to the others.

“We can do that.”, Drago replied as he moved towards three giant Commanagas, who he swiftly beat his way through. A Neo-Bullroid fired on Proton, who slashed it into submission quickly and then moved onto a Gearoid.

The Lion Zord then combined with Yellow as the right arm, Black as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Gold as the left leg. They soon found themselves under fire from several enemies. “It’s not easy without Yuri.”, Mila noted.

“We have to try anyway.”, Slash insisted. The Megazord moved forward, shrugging off the hits from the enemy before facing two Commanagas and a Gearoid. It cut down its opponents just as the Fire Voyager continued to make progress on its opponents.

Proton then received a message from Cha-ChaMari, who was piloting the Gearoid. “I just thought you should know we have your bird friend. He’s waiting in Daddy’s throne room for you.”

“Corvin.”, Proton said to himself. “But how?”

“ _That’s for me to know and you to find out_.”, Gingaku’s hooded figure appeared. “ _But the truth may not be what you want to hear._ ” He then turned to Dark Soul, who was waiting with a Neo-Bullroid. “ _Your friend the Red Ranger is still alive. Find him and destroy him._ ”

* * *

“It will be done.”, Dark Soul said as he stood up and departed.

* * *

As the Cosmo Megazord continued to beat back his opponents, Proton prepared his final attack. “Burning Transmission Strike!”

The blast hit Cha-ChaMari’s Gearoid, causing it to catch fire. “I’ll be waiting near the throne room.”, she said as she teleported out.

The Dragon Star Megazord them used an energised punch to take out a few of its opponents, blowing them all up. It then came under fire from a Gearoid and it’s partner. “There’s too many of them.”, Drago stated. “We need to keep pushing.”

He then received a message from Winda. “ _I’ve found Yuri. Or rather, the Legend Rangers did. One of them used her jumping skills to stop him from falling to his doom. He’s currently unconscious from his injuries and it is unknown when he will wake up._ ”

“I hope it’s soon.”, Mila replied as the Rangers came under fire once more. “We could use the help here.”

As the army charged once more at the Rangers, the Megazords unleashed their final attacks on them, wiping out the army in an instant. “Where’s that Aporioshi?”, Proton asked. “I’d like to settle thing with him.”

As if on cue, Aporioshi landed on the ground, towering over the three Megazords. “You’re all like ants compared to me.”, he announced. “I let that army soften you up so I could crush you here and now.”

“So those robots were a diversion.”, Drago commented. “I should’ve realised.”

Aporioshi used his ball and chain to attack the three Megazords, causing them to spark. “Now behold more of my power.” He fired a beam from his chest, that was only stopped by the Cosmo Megazord using the Defend-24 Cosmo Sphere. But even that didn’t fully negate it, as the three were still blown apart by the force of the hit.

“We need more power.”, Proton said.

As if on cue, the Shooting Star Megazord appeared, as the twelve Zords combined into one. “Let’s end this now.”, Proton said as he activated the Zodiac Megazord’s final attack, launching all the Cosmo Spheres at the enemy.

However, Aporioshi only absorbed that energy. “That won’t help you.”, he boasted. He then fired another beam, that knocked he two Megazords back, the Shooting Star falling down dead.

* * *

On the ground, Yuri, now demorphed, regained consciousness. He saw a blonde woman sitting nearby. “It’s ok.”, she assured him, with a very soft voice. “You’re safe now. I broke your fall.”

“Thanks.”, Yuri said. “And you are?”

“Zoey. Zoey Reeves. I’m one of the various Power Rangers that have protected Earth over the years. I woke up a few minutes ago and got told by an android named Winda to look for others. I saw you falling to this level and decided to save you.”

“Falling? I was dropped.”, Yuri stated. Then he had a realisation. “Dark Soul. He’s still out there. I need to…”

“You don’t need to do anything.”, Winda insisted as she approached with the Ninja Steel Rangers. “For now, you should rest up for a while longer. These Legendary Rangers can handle themselves until I find a way to send them home.”

“Winda, am I glad to see you.”, Yuri said as he went over to his teammate and hugged her. “Where are the others? And while they’re here, what’re these Legendary Rangers doing here?”

“To answer your first question, they’re occupied fighting one of Gingaku’s strongest warriors. All except Jiro and Cobras, who’re currently fighting the Detainers on the top floor to clear a path to the main antechamber. As for these Rangers, from what I’ve gathered, they were taken here and kept in stasis so that Gingaku could drain the energies from the Morphin’ Grid itself. For what, I’m not sure.”

“Too bad you won’t get to find out.”, Dark Soul said, bursting into the room. “Did you really think you could hide yourself from me in here?”, he asked. “I know every inch of this Palace inside and out.”

“Who’s this creep?”, the White Ninja Ranger asked.

“He’s the Dark Soul I was telling you about.”, Yuri said. “We used to be friends, but that’s no longer the case.” He stood up to fight, but quickly staggered.

“Yuri, you’re still hurt.”, Zoey insisted. “I’ll handle this creep for you. Transport!” She pressed the bracelet on her wrist. However, nothing happened.

“You fool, your teleporter signals are blocked inside this place.”, Dark Soul said as he knocked her aside with his sword. “You can’t stop me from getting to Yuri.”

“She doesn’t need to.”, Yuri said. “Injury or no injury, I can still face you.” He pulled out his Big Bang Sphere and pressed the button on top. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He inserted it into his Morpher, pressing the top again and spinning the dial. After the Morphing was complete, he ran forward with his Cosmo Saber to fight his opponent, barely holding him back. “I’m still not giving up on you.”, Yuri told Dark Soul.

“Then you’re a fool.”, Dark Soul replied as he blasted Yuri back with his new powers. He ran forward and struck with his sword, Yuri barely dodging the hits, before ascending up the nearby stairs. “The friend you knew is long gone. And he’s never coming back.”

Yuri kicked his opponent away and ran up the stairs, with Dark Soul in hot pursuit.

* * *

Outside, Aporioshi continued beating down the Zodiac Megazord while the Shooting Star lay in ruins. “Let’s try something else.”, Proton suggested. “He’s anticipating everything we’ve thrown at his splinters.”

“He won’t see this coming then.”, Drago replied. As the Zodiac Megazord split apart, the Cosmo and Dragon Star Megazords reformed into the Cosmo Dragon Megazord, which had the Balance Zord taking the place usually occupied by the Wolf Zord.

“A new form won’t help you.”, Aporioshi fired another beam at his enemies.

“Wanna bet?”, Drago replied. The Cosmo Dragon Megazord walked through the smoke, unaffected by the shot.

* * *

Elsewhere, Jiro and Cobras had dealt with a group of Detainers. “We’ve got the easy part out of the way.”, Jiro said. A pair of Commanagas appeared and then began firing missiles at them. “Now comes the hard part.”

“I can handle these two.”, Cobras said as he pulled out his Void Sphere. “You go help the others.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”, Jiro said as he ran off.

Cobras then inserted his Void Sphere into his Morpher, transforming into his powered up mode with a declaration of “Dark Energy, Unleash!” Now transformed into Void Mode, he inserted his Black Hole Sphere onto his Cosmo Scythe. “Let’s see how you like this. Black Hole Glaive!” He slashed at the two Commanagas, defeating them handily. “And now, onto the rest.”, he said as he ran off.

* * *

Outside, Aporioshi prepared another attack. “Take this.”, he declared, firing his beam once more.

“That won’t help you.”, Drago said as he opened and closed the head on his cane. “Cosmic Dragon Master Blast!”

The two beams ended up clashing in mid air. “What’s the matter, Rangers? Not enough juice?”, Aporioshi mocked. Eventually, the two beams ended up shorting each other out, knocking Aporioshi back momentarily. When he looked back, the Rangers were gone. “I’d better get moving.”, he said as he walked off.

* * *

In Gingaku’s antechamber, Cha-ChaMari gave a report of the scene to her father. “The Rangers seem to have fled at the first opportunity. Without their leader, they’re powerless against Aporioshi.”

“Speaking of whom,” Gingaku responded “where is he?”

“ _I’m right here._ ”, Aporioshi’s voice announced as an image of him appeared on a screen. “ _I’m going to tap directly into the planet’s core for more power. The Rangers won’t be able to survive my next attack._ ”

“No, my friend.”, Gingaku begged. “Don’t do this. If you absorb too much energy and then end up losing, you could be totally destroyed. You’d be gone again, this time for good.”

“ _Lord Orbis, I am aware of the risks of what I am undertaking._ ”, Aporioshi’s voice echoed once more. “ _Let it be known, if I fail here, that it has been an honour to be your servant in both my full and splintered forms._ ”

“You’re more than just a servant to me.”, Gingaku stated. “You’re my friend.” He signed off the screen, clearly saddened by Aporioshi’s undertaking.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuri continued his battle with Dark Soul. A battle he was on the losing end of. “Is that all you’ve got?”, Yuri asked. “I’ve had colds worse than this.”

“You want me to go all out?”, Dark Soul asked. “Very well. I’m shrouding my self in the darkness of the night.” He surrounded himself with his dark aura, transforming once more into Yamashi. “Let’s see what this additional power can do.” He summoned up Metaro’s bow-staff and aimed at his opponent. “Say goodbye.” He fired arrows at his opponent.

Arrows that were quickly blocked by the arriving Super Ninja Steel Rangers. “Get to safety.”, Yellow suggested. “We’ll handle this guy.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”, Yuri said, pulling out his Lion-01 Sphere and using it to summon his cockpit, flying off.

“Don’t think you can keep me from him for long.”, Yamashi growled. “I’ll just defeat you and then find him.” He summoned up Cha-ChaMari’s club and then charged at them. The Rangers however blocked with their swords and began fighting him off using their Element Power Stars’ various attacks. He buffeted all of the hits, before seeing Lion Fire Red and Super Ninja Gold running towards him and attacking with their respective final attacks, which pushed him further back. “I’ll admit. I gave you less credit than I thought you’d earned. You’re just as powerful as him.”

“Well we’ve been beating creeps like you for years.”, Gold commented. “Time to finish this.”

The 6 Rangers prepped their respective firearms, the regular Rangers’ Ninja Blasters and Gold’s Rockstorm Guitar and aimed them at Yamashi. “Ninja/Rockstorm Blast!” The 6 beams hit Yamashi, knocking him out of the building. “Show’s over. Ninjas win!”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers that had been in the Megazords regrouped near the crashed Shooting Star. “How’s it doing?”, Myron asked his brother.

“Not good.”, Heath replied. “Without the Big Bang or Orion-13 Spheres, I cant make any major repairs.”

“You have them.”, Yuri said as he and Jiro both showed up, the former handing Orion-13 to Heath. “What’s the rest of the situation like?”

“Not good.”, Mila answered him. “We barely made it out of anything and Aporioshi disappeared to who knows where.”

“Myron’s scanner indicates that he’s in the planet’s core.”, Barry said. “I’m not sure what he’d be doing there.”

“Nonetheless, we should make sure he never comes out of there.”, Drago said. Then he noticed a particular absence. “Where’s Cobras?”

“He’s still on the upper levels.”, Jiro answered. “Fending off the enemies up there so we have a clear path to Gingaku.”

“I’d better help him.”, Scales decided. “He might miss one.” He summoned his Zord and took off.

“That just leaves the 9 of us to take on Aporioshi.”, Tarrant noted.

“That’s all we need.”, Yuri told him. I have a plan.”

* * *

In the planet’s core, Aporioshi saw the Shooting Star heading towards him. “A single ship? You think this will stop me?” He was then hit with a blast.”

“No, but it will distract you.”, Yuri said from within the Astral Leo Megazord. He fired again, knocking Aporioshi away from the core.

“Not enough energy… absorbed.”, Aporioshi said. “But it’s enough.” He was then hit by the Fire Voyager, who knocked him through the planet’s crust, back to the city.

Aporioshi now found himself facing three Megazords, all in their default formations. “It’s time to end this, Aporioshi!”, Proton stated.

“At the hands of three that can become one, I might add.”, Drago added, trying to invoke irony.

“Let’s hit ‘im with all we’ve got.”, Yuri said as he had Astral Leo fire more shots at the enemy.

“You won’t take me down, even with Astral Leo’s power.”, Aporioshi declared as he blocked the shots then threw his ball at the Megazords, which was blocked by the Fire Voyager.

“Time for some extra power.”, Yuri said, inserting his Big Bang Sphere. “Summon Shooting Star Ship!”

The Shooting Star Megazord formed once more, joining the others. It fired at Aporioshi, injuring him. “ ** _Let’s channel our powers at this guy._** ”, Astral Leo suggested.

“Burning Transmission Strike!”

“Dragonic Break!”

“ _ **Astral Projection Break!**_ ”

The three blasts were absorbed by Aporioshi, who felt weakened by the energy. “It’s too much.”, he said, before laughing. “Just kidding.” He then fired the three beams back at their senders, knocking the Megazords back.

“ _ **We’re losing badly.”**_ , Astral Leo stated.

“Don’t you think we know that?”, Yuri said with frustration. “We need to get back in there.”

The Shooting Star then began a wrestling match with Aporioshi, being knocked back. “Let’s see if the brainwashing gas Tricerodo used on your friend works on robots.” He blasted the Shooting Star with said gas, which caused it to go berserk and attack the other Megazords.

“He’s out of control.”, Heath called out as he was buffeted from inside the Megazord. “Do something.”

“On it.”, Yuri said as he shot at the Shooting Star, disrupting it long enough for the other two to hold it down. “We need to target that nozzle.”

“ ** _No problem!_** ”, Astral Leo stated, firing on the part of Aporioshi composed of Tricerodo’s weapon and shattering it. The Shooting Star returned to normal and blasted the enemy with the heat from its thrusters.

“Now to finish this.”, Yuri said. “Big Bang Strike!” He pressed the button and spun the wheel. The Shooting Star launched its astral Cosmo Sphere at Aporioshi, damaging him significantly.

“How is this happening?”, Aporioshi asked. “I should have the advantage of strength.”

“I’ve been through this with Coiloga.”, Yuri answered him. “We have the advantage of friends on our side. While you’re all out here alone.”

“And that will be your downfall, just like Coiloga.”, Proton stated.

“Let’s go Astral Leo, everyone.”, Yuri said, as the four Megazords launched their beams at Aporioshi, damaging him significantly. “Now then, let’s use the Big Bang Cannon!” The Astral Leo Megazord detached the Leo Zord, returning to being the Cosmo Megazord. It then swapped arms with the Dragon Star Megazord and stood behind the newly transformed Big Bang cannon with the Fire Voyager. All twelve Rangers were teleported into the cockpit. Yuri grabbed onto the rifle. “Everyone, grant me your powers.” Everyone nodded as the lights emerged from all of them, channelling into the rifle.

“Ultimate Galaxy Blast!”, the Rangers all declared.

“This won’t be the end.”, Aporioshi said, generating another beam to attack with.

12 beams came from the cannon, to be met with Aporioshi’s beam. But this time, the Rangers won out, destroying their opponent completely.

“This Space is ours.”, the Rangers all declared. All except one.

“Not quite.”, Proton said. “There’s still some unfinished business.” He took off in the Fire Voyager, flying upwards.

“Proton… Kyle, wait!”, Yuri called out, as Drago could only look down in shame.

* * *

In his antechamber, Gingaku could only look on at the sight of Aporioshi’s destruction on the screen. “Father?”, Cha-ChaMari said in an attempt to break the silence.

“Leave me.”, was all he could say. “Now!” Cha-ChaMari pulled out of the room, deciding to escape his wrath. “No more games, Kyle.”, he said, now that he was alone. “We’re going to finish this now.”

* * *

Elsewhere on the floor, Cobras took down another Commanaga. “I think that’s about all of them.”, he said as he demorphed, unaware that another was rising up behind him, ready for the kill.

A moment that never arrived, since said Commanaga was shot down by an arriving Scales, much to Cobras’ surprise. “What would you do without me?”, Scales asked his partner.

“I’d probably still be lost in space.”, Cobras answered him. “Nice to know you’re still here for me though.”

The tender reunion was short-lived as Proton came running up to them. “Where is it?”

“What?”, the two asked.

“The throne room.”, Proton stressed. “I have to get there now.”

“Hold up.” Proton turned around to see Yuri, accompanied by the rest of the Rangers, including Winda, fresh from having returned the Legendary Rangers to their home planets. “What’s so important that you have to get to the throne room?”

“They’ve got him.”, Proton said. “Orbis has Corvin in the throne room. I have to get him back.”

Everyone but Yuri was confused by this. “Who’s Corvin?”, Slash asked. “You’re not making much sense.”

“Corvin is an old friend of Proton’s.”, Yuri clarified. “He’s the one who left the map to find him.”

“In that case.” Winda did a scan of the building’s remaining structure. “You’re in luck. The throne room was one of the few parts of the structure that wasn’t demolished by Aporioshi’s growth. It’s down the corridor, third door on the left.”

Proton hesitated for a moment, before speaking. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go.”

And so the Rangers made their way to the throne room. Proton, Cobras, Myron and Yuri entered the room, but the door closed and wouldn’t open before anyone else could go through. “What’s going on?”, Scales said as he banged on the door. “Let us in.”

“Oh I don’t think you’ll be going in there.” Everyone turned around to see Cha-ChaMari, accompanied by a Neo-Bullroid and a group of Detainers. “In fact, you’re going to fall here while the biggest threats to Daddy’s Power fall in there.”

“Then… Proton’s friend… it’s a trap!”, Drago exclaimed.

“And you fell for it.”, Cha-ChaMari mocked.

* * *

Inside the room, the 4 Rangers realised they weren’t being followed. “The door seems to be sealed.”, Myron said. “We can’t get out and they can’t get in.”

“Maybe Proton’s Burning Calibur could cut through the door.”, Yuri suggested.

But before that conversation could continue, they were interrupted by Proton himself. “Corvin!”, he called out as he saw his friend knelt on the floor and went over to embrace him. “I can’t believe I found you.”

“Yes.”, Corvin said. “I’m glad you managed to find me again after all this time, Kyle.”

Proton immediately stopped his embrace, realising something was off. Namely that Corvin never knew him as Kyle Jennings. “How do you know my name?”, he asked.

“There’s nothing I don’t know about you, Fire Knight.” Corvin then stabbed Proton in the chest, sending him lunging backwards. Corvin then began laughing evilly, as he was surrounded by the same dark aura that Dark Soul had earlier surrounded himself with. When it cleared Corvin was gone and in his place stood…

“Gingaku!”, Cobras said disdainfully.

“Yes.”, Gingaku cackled. “You walked right into my trap. Today will be the end of the Power Rangers. And in particular, the Fire Knight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is adapted from episode 42 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Aporioshi is a portmanteau of “Aporia” (a similar character from Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds) and Hideyoshi. 
> 
> The Ninja Steel Rangers getting a slightly larger role in fighting Dark Soul is basically a middle finger to Beast Morphers disregarding them in favour yet more Dino Charge and a shout out to another Kyuranger adaptation fic where Don Aslan’s costume was used as a crossover villain. 
> 
> Corvin’s reveal is slightly inspired by the reveal of Tim Drake as the Joker in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.


	33. Assault On Planet Black Part 3: The End of Gingaku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the reveal of Gingaku’s secret, and with Cha-ChaMari bearing down on them, the 12 Rangers engage in a final showdown for the freedom of the universe.

_In the last chapter of the Cosmic Defenders, the Rangers took on Gingaku’s strongest warrior Aporioshi and defeated him. Following this, they made their way into the palace’s top level to confront Gingaku and rescue Proton’s friend Corvin. However, Yuri, Proton, Cobras and Myron were separated from the others. And then they discovered that Corvin was actually Gingaku. What will happen next? Find out here._

* * *

In the corridor outside the antechamber, the remaining 8 Rangers were facing down Cha-ChaMari and a group of Detainers. “Give it up, you rebel scum.”, Cha-ChaMari said mockingly. “My father will deal with your friends while I destroy you.”

“Don’t be so sure.”, Drago said. “Today will be the day we end you, and free the universe from your control. Isn’t that right, Rangers?”

“You know it, Commander.”, Mila nodded. “Let’s take these freaks out.” The Rangers then engaged the Detainers in battle, making short work of them with a few punches and kicks. “Alright, now let’s make things harder for the princess here.”

Everyone pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and summoned their Morphers. They then inserted the Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They pushed their Spheres forward and pushed the button on the gauntlet handle. In a series of flashes, they were morphed into into their Ranger forms.

“Roar of the Dragon!”

“Howl of the Bear!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon!”

“Blade of the Swordfish!”

“Strength of the Bull!”

“Claw of the Wolf!”

“The Balance between Good and Evil!”

“Agility of the Eagle!”

“Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!”

Cha-ChaMari scoffed at this. “How long did that take to choreograph?”

“Longer than its gonna take to defeat you.”, Slash answered her. “Now let’s go.”

The 8 Rangers ran towards Cha-ChaMari and began using their go-to techniques against her. However, Cha-ChaMari was able to ignore the swings of Slash’s Cosmo Dagger and Jiro’s Cosmo Claw. She also caught Tarrant’s Cosmo Axe mid-swing, pulling it out of his hands and using it to knock Winda down as she jumped out the hole in the wall to try and shoot at her from the air. “She’s too slippery.”, Barry pointed out. “I’d better hold her down.” He threw his scarf at the opponent.

“Nice try, kid.”, Cha-ChaMari mocked as she jumped out of the way, causing the scarf to grab onto Scales and cause him to shoot wildly, hitting several of the Rangers.

“Let’s just get this over with.”, Mila said, inserting her Cosmo Sphere onto her Cosmo Blade. “Cosmic Energy Strike!” The Blade extended, reaching towards Cha-ChaMari…

…who caught the blade before it could make contact. “Did you really expect me not to see that coming?”, she asked. “You’re way too predictable.” She threw the blade - and its holder - out of the hole in the wall. “Two down, six to go.” She turned to face the remaining Rangers, who were still reeling from Scales’ shooting.

But before she could begin to attack, she was hit from behind by Mila, who’d used her Blade as a grappling hook to return to the upper levels. “I had no idea if that would work.”, she commented. “Never done anything like that before.” She then rejoined the battle.

* * *

On the ground, Winda regained consciousness. “That was strange.”, she said. “Normally, my flying strikes can’t be anticipated, at least not by a non-Octupeye.” She then saw someone else rising from the rubble. “Hey!”, she called out.

But much to her shock, the figure she saw emerging was Dark Soul. “It takes more than that to stop me.”, he wheezed. He then saw Winda standing nearby. “Oh, you’re that robot with the Power Rangers. Where are they?”

“I’m not going to tell you.”, Winda insisted. “I know you’re going to try and destroy my friend again. Just know that I was knocked away from the others when Cha-ChaMari blocked my attack.”

Dark Soul laughed at her. “That’ll be the new anticipation engine she had inserted into her brain. Every move you Rangers have ever made against us in battle, she has an appropriate counter for.”

“That’s it.”, Winda realised. “You’ve helped me more than I can ever thank you for.” She began running towards the top levels, trying to avoid getting caught by Cha-ChaMari.

“As have you.”, Dark Soul commented, as he began to follow her.

* * *

In the antechamber, the other 4 looked at the figure of Gingaku standing before them. “You swine! Where’s the real Corvin?”, Proton demanded.

Gingaku laughed at this. “You fool. I am the real Corvin. Or rather, I’m using his body.”

“In that case.”, Myron pulled out the Split Emission Blaster he had used for a while. “I just need to separate you two.” He fired the weapon at Gingaku, after inserting the Purity-60 Sphere. However, it had no effect. “It’s not working. The two personalities should be separated.”

“Unless there’s only one personality left.”, Gingaku said, grabbing the weapon and shattering it in his hand. “Perhaps I should tell you how I survived our final encounter, Kyle. During that battle, part of my body lodged itself into your friend. Small, but enough for my species to revive by taking over a host, namely Corvin. It lay dormant for a while, before taking over as he was about to hide the final Cosmo Sphere that would lead to you. I found a geneticist to help discover the capabilities of my new body. One I’m sure Myron here is all too familiar with.”

“Dr. Cerebron.”, Myron said bitterly.

“He proved to be useful as an ally. Useful enough that after you tried to burn him to a crisp, I salvaged his head and revived it. But I digress. With the full knowledge of my new body’s capabilities, I was able to face the previous Gingaku in battle and defeat him, taking his place for my own. I then spent years masterminding my control of the universe, even ordering the creation of the Terrorvore to feed that last Cosmo Sphere to it, where it would hopefully remain forever.”

“Too bad Squideyasu had to bring it out against us during his endgame.”, Cobras commented. “That must’ve spoiled things.”

“Oh not at all.”, Gingaku insisted. “By then, you Rangers had arrived on the scene, with access to phenomenal cosmic energy within you. I knew that if I could acquire that power, then I’d become the ultimate ruler. This form you see before you is a result of the power I took from you Cobras, during your stint as the Void Ranger. If you’d stayed on my team, I’d have drained you dry and then moved on to the others. But that just means I get to do it right now.”

“Well that’s not gonna happen.”, Yuri said. “Because we’re going to take you down here and now. Isn’t that right guys?”

“Yeah!”, the other three all fist-pumped.

Yuri then pulled out his Cosmo Sphere, which everyone else joined him in doing. “Then I guess it’s Morphing Time!”

Proton nodded, holding his arm out. “Galaxy Saber!” His Morpher appeared in his hand, into which he inserted his Cosmo Sphere. “Set!”

The other three did likewise with their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Rise! Change!”

In a flash, the 4 were morphed into their Ranger forms. “That won’t help you fools.”, Gingaku declared as he fired a beam of dark energy at Proton, which Yuri deflected into the ceiling, causing rubble to fall.

“It’s time to end this, once and for all.”, Yuri said as he ran towards Gingaku with his Cosmo Saber outstretched, followed by Proton. Yuri fired several beams at Gingaku, who deflected them, before meeting their blades with his own, smaller swords.

“Not with my power.”, Gingaku declared as he knocked Proton away, before fighting with Yuri. “Even with the power of Astral Leo within you, you can’t hope to beat me.” Proton then rejoined the fight, only to be blocked by his enemy. “Can you really hope to defeat me?”, he asked as he punched Proton back.

Yuri then swung his sword forward, being blocked by Gingaku’s. “Of course we can. It’s our destiny to defeat you. Side by side, standing tall, we’re going to free the universe from your rule.”

“You fool.”, Gingaku stated as he knocked Yuri back. “Legends and truth are often mixed together. Very few have ever lived up to such legends.” He slashed Yuri several times, before knocking him down. “Now, it’s time to end your story on a happy note. For me, I mean. Not for you.” He summoned up a large energy sphere, with the image of a crow, surrounding the 4 Rangers.

* * *

They found themselves in a dark void, the other Rangers lying on the floor. “What happened?”, Yuri asked. “We just left them, they can’t have been defeated already.”

“This is the Power I have received from the body of this being.”, Gingaku’s voice echoed. “I can use the power of the Crow-46 Cosmo Sphere to show you the future. A future I will create personally.”

“It’s not real.”, Myron stated. “Crow-46 is said to have the power to create illusions of despair. Like the Gaku Zone we’ve faced several times. We’ve broken out of situations like this before, we can do so again.”

“Can you really?”, Gingaku asked. The dead Rangers rose up and began grabbing at the 4. “And how can you do that, may I ask?”

“We simply have to defy despair.”, Cobras answered. “Not give in to it. We can break free of this. Together.”

* * *

The Rangers all focused their energy, dispersing the zombies and shattering the void, returning them to the antechamber. The Crow-46 Sphere fell to the floor, where Myron picked it up. “Now, we’ll show you our full power.” Yuri said, as he pulled out his Big Bang Sphere, activating it and inserting it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!”

Cobras pulled out his Void Sphere. “You wanted my power so badly? I’ll give it to you.” He inserted it into his Morpher, pushing it forward. “Dark Energy, Unleash!”

Yuri and Cobras were subsequently transformed into their powered up forms. “The Warrior of the Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

“Venom of the Scorpion! Orange Ranger!”

“Envoy of the Dark, Silver Ranger: Void Mode!”

“The Burning Challenger! Fire Knight!”

“Bringing the universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders!” The 4 all posted as their logo appeared behind them.

Gingaku tutted at this. “Same old lines. I’ll still beat you.”

The 4 Rangers charged at Gingaku, but were unsuccessful in hitting him with their own weapons. “How about we swap things up?”, Yuri said, summoning the weapons of the other Rangers.

“Sure.” Myron and Cobras threw their weapons at Gingaku, before taking up the summoned ones. “Cosmo Saber!” Myron swung Yuri’s regular weapon at Gingaku, slashing him. He then picked up Drago’s Dragon Staff, using it to lock blades with his opponent, before shooting with it. “Dragon Break!”

Gingaku then felt himself being shot - by Cobras wielding Scales’ Cosmo Rifle. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”, he said to Myron.

“This isn’t my first rodeo like this.”, Myron stated as he ran forward with Mila’s Cosmo Blade. The other Rangers ran forward, except for Proton, who felt a pain in the point where Gingaku had stabbed him earlier. He quickly recovered and pressed on.

The Rangers all slashed at Gingaku with their weapons, as he pulled out and pressed a button. “You won’t be making it out alive, even if you win.”, he stated, pressing the button, causing the chamber to rumble.

“We can still finish you off.”, Proton said as the 4 Rangers ran forward with their regular weapons. “Ultimate Energy Attack!” They hit Gingaku in his chest, buffeting him and causing him to fall backwards.

“No! NOOOOOO!” Gingaku crackled with energy as his body exploded.

“And that’s all she wrote.”, Proton commented. “Now that was hot.”

But before anything else could be said, the room continued to shake. “We need to get out of here.”, Myron urged. “Now!”

Everyone made for the exit, with Proton using his sword to cut through the closed door. However, Yuri was less successful than the others, being caught off guard by falling rubble and trapped in the room as the others made it out the door. “Don’t worry about me.”, he called out to them. “I just got knocked down to the lower levels. Send someone to come and get me.”

“Will do.”, Myron said as he ran towards the other two. “Mila and Scales are the best choice for a rescue mission. For now, we need to find them.” The others nodded as they ran towards the others.

* * *

Elsewhere, the other Rangers were still fighting a losing battle against Cha-ChaMari. Drago tried to thrust towards her with his cane, intending to push her back as he once did to her clone. However, she dodged out of the way and shot at him with her arm cannon. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”, she asked them. “The eight of you can’t hope to defeat me.”

“How about eleven of us?” Cha-ChaMari found herself facing attacks from Myron, Cobras (who had reverted to his normal form) and Proton, narrowly dodging all of them. “Good news, we managed to destroy Gingaku once and for all.”, Myron relayed to the others, who pumped their fists in celebration.

“What?”, Cha-ChaMari said with some slight anger. “No!”

“The bad news is that we weren’t able to save my friend Corvin.”, Proton said sadly. “That and Yuri is trapped on the lower levels. He requested Mila and Scales go to rescue him.”

“Well, the man asked for our help.”, Scales said, going over to Mila. “Shall we go?”

“We might as well.”, Mila said, leading Scales in taking off for their rescue operation. “You guys can take care of Cha-ChaMari.”

And talking of Cha-ChaMari, her eyes were now seething with rage. “You may have defeated my father, but you won’t defeat me.”, she stated. “As of right now I am Gingaku’s new empress. Yes, Empress Cha-ChaMari does have a nice ring to it. And to mark my coronation, I will decorate my carpet with your blood.” She ran forward, aiming to attack them.

However, she was disrupted by the arrival of Winda. “Good luck with that. Not only do I not possess any blood, but I know that you’re reliant on your anticipation engine to counter our moves.”

The other Rangers all gasped at this. “So that’s how she knew what we were going to do.”, Jiro realised.

“It’s also how Mila’s manoeuvre managed to hurt her.”, Drago realised. “It wasn’t in her database since Mila never performed it before.”

“So, you discovered my secret.”, Cha-ChaMari noted. “Presumably from that cretin Dark Soul. He’ll be dealt with once I’m secure in my power. But know that that won’t help you defeat me.” She fired her miniature explosives at Winda.

“Oh really?” Winda pulled out a Cosmo Axe, using it to knock the explosives away. She then went over to Cha-ChaMari and hit her with the axe, knocking her back. “What does your database say about that?”

“It’s… it’s not in my database.”, Cha-ChaMari said with shock. “You’ve never used that move before.”

“That’s your weakness.”, Drago realised. “We need to switch up our tactics and become totally random.” He grabbed the shield portion of Proton’s Galaxy Saber, dropping his Dragon Staff and proceeding to beat Cha-ChaMari over the head with it.

“Sounds simple enough.”, Jiro said as he folded his Cosmo Claw into a Cosmo Rifle, with Slash removing his blade portion to create a Cosmo Blaster. The two then began to fire on Cha-ChaMari, who could do nothing to respond with.

Tarrant ran forward to join the fight, only for Myron to stop him. “This could be our last chance to secure Dr. Cerebron’s research. Are you in?”

“You know it.”, Tarrant replied as the two headed off.

* * *

On the lower levels, Yuri regained consciousness, pushing the rubble off of himself. He was now demorphed. “I guess Astral Leo comes with his own advantages.” He held up the Leo-77 Sphere. “Am I right?”

“ ** _You are correct._** ”, Astral Leo’s voice came from the Sphere. “ _ **I would not rest yet, Yuri. There are still threats at hand. Gingaku may have been defeated, but his forces still persist to target you**_.”

As if on cue, the door was opened to reveal Dark Soul. “Ah, so I was correct to expect that explosion was your doing, Yuri. So, what have you done to inconvenience Lord Gingaku this time?”

“I inconvenienced him by destroying him for good.”, Yuri boasted. “The Gingaku Clan’s rule over the universe is over. You don’t have any cause to follow anymore.”

“You are wrong.”, Dark Soul informed him. He took off his mask and smashed it against the wall, shattering it to pieces. “I still have one cause. Namely, eliminating you. I’m shrouding myself in the darkness of the night.” He transformed once more into Yamashi. “Now, let’s go for it.”

Yuri sighed. “I’ve tried reasoning with you, but it’s clear that’s not going to work.” He pulled out Lion-01 and inserted it into his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He pulled out his Cosmo Saber and charged at Yamashi, who summoned Coiloga’s sword to clash with it. The two engaged in a sword fight, with Yuri finding himself on the losing end of a beatdown.

Then Mila and Scales showed up, blasting Yamashi back with their Morphers. “You called upon us to rescue you, but I thought it was from rubble.”, Mila commented. “Not from this guy.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you anyway.”, Yuri replied to her. “And this is my old friend Dark Soul. He’s made some improvements since I fought him on Tategami.”

“‘Improvements’ is underselling my new powers.”, Yamashi stated. “I am now on par with your Big Bang Power.” He summoned up Crosslice’s blades onto his arms and slashed at the two newcomers.

“You may have all of Gingaku’s powers at your disposal.”, Scales commented. “But bear in mind that we’ve defeated all of those creeps before.” He pulled out his Cosmo Rifle and began firing.

Yamashi deflected this with Abomiknight’s icicle chains, before delivering a shot to the robot with Metaro’s staff. “Ah yes, you’re one of their mechanical members. I know just how to deal with you.” He summoned up Mothimor’s scales onto his arms, causing Scales to erratically shoot at his allies. “Namely, make you do two thirds of my work for me.”

“You dirty slime.”, Mila said as she leapt towards Yamashi, knocking him back with her Cosmo Blade, before Yuri leapt towards him in Pegasus mode, knocking him back and releasing his hold over Scales.

“Ah yes, the ninja. I know just the power to face off against you.” He manifested Darneko’s claws and disappeared into the shadows. “Try to deal with this.”

“No trouble.”, Yuri said, pulling out the Dual Sphere and inserting the Sun side into his Morpher. “Hyper Plus Up!” He pushed forward, transforming into the Solar Red Ranger. He then pressed the button on top, dispersing the shadows with light and supercharging Scales.

“Thanks for the boost, Yuri.”, Scales called out. “Now I can do some fly swatting.” He went over to Yamashi and began engaging him in a brawl.

* * *

In another part of the complex, Myron and Tarrant had found Dr. Cerebron’s lab and were looking around. “Look at some of this stuff.”, Myron said. “I knew Cerebron was nuts, but this is taking it to a whole new level. This is the original gene code for the Terrorvores. Their programmed instincts are ‘Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!’.”

“That’s not the only thing.”, Tarrant replied. “The same command is written into the control program for the Neo-Bullroids. This guy really wants a destructive machine.”

“And then there’s this.” Myron opened a barrel, to reveal it was full of a glowing purple liquid. “This is the Power that was extracted from those legendary Rangers. One group had a dumb-sounding name for it. But this stuff’s been corrupted using the corrupted cosmic energy Gingaku was powering himself with. But what’s it for?”

“What is any scientific endeavour for?” Both Rangers turned around to see Dr. Cerebron enter, flanked by a Neo-Bullroid. “To find new and more creative ways to cause destruction.”

“I see you’ve got a new body.”, Myron commented. “It perfectly reflects your mind, Cerebron. Ugly.”

“How dare you.”, Cerebron stated. “I wouldn’t have to rely on this crude existence if it wasn’t for you. I came back here to recover my gains and make my escape. But since you’re both here, I’ll erase the two biggest thorns in my side while I’m here.” He ejected his organic remains, now encased in a plastic cylinder containing a golden sphere with a silver cross at 4 points that created two rings around the container, decorated with red and blue markings, and had the Neo-Bullroid housing them put the Sphere down. “Now, destroy them!” The two Neo-Bullroids charged at Myron and Tarrant, who began fighting them in hand to hand. However, neither Ranger was able to get the advantage against their opponents. As this battle went on, Cerebron began zapping the contents of the lab with a beam, which caused all of them to disappear. As the two Rangers pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and morphed, Cerebron called out to his robots. “We’re done. Let’s go.” One of the two picked up the container and teleported out. The other stayed behind to continue the fight.

“Darn. We couldn’t get Cerebron.”, Tarrant lamented.

“True.”, Myron responded. “But we can take out one of his puppets.” The two put their Cosmo Spheres onto their weapons and swung them at the Neo-Bullroid, destroying it. “Now, let’s go. The others are gonna need us.”

* * *

Down on the lower levels, Yamashi had begun to gain the upper hand over the three Rangers, even with Yuri having assumed his Big Bang Form. “Give it up.”, he snarled, firing at them with Squideyasu’s blaster. “As I am now, none of you can hope to hold a candle to me.”

As the three writhed on the ground, Yuri could only whisper one thing to himself. “I’m sorry, Pamela… I failed.”

Yamashi heard him. “Pam? She’s still alive?”

“Yeah.”, Yuri said, pulling himself up. “She was hoping that I’d find you out in space and bring you home. Evidently, I was wasting my time listening to her.”

“In that case,” Yamashi turned away from Yuri, turning back into his human appearance. “I have other business to attend to.” He turned around and walked away. “We’ll finish this later.”

The other two Rangers got up off the floor. “What was he talking about when he mentioned other business?”, Scales asked.

“I don’t know,” Mila answered him “but it can’t be anything good.”

* * *

Elsewhere, the Rangers were still delivering a beatdown to Cha-ChaMari, with Proton shooting her using the Dragon Staff. “I could get used to this.”, he commented.

It was at this point that Myron and Tarrant rejoined the group. “I see we’ve missed out on some fun.”, the former commented.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”, Barry responded. “We’ve been fighting off Cha-ChaMari using tactics that we’ve never tried before. But I’m not sure what to do myself, other than using the Cosmo Claw.”

“I have an idea.”, Myron said, pulling out his stinger tail and wrapping it around Barry. “You’re going to find out what it’s like to be a spinning top.” He sent Barry towards Cha-ChaMari, an opportunity he used to deliver several scratches to her, knocking her down.

“Alright, forget the battle computer.”, Cha-ChaMari declared. “I’ll take you on with my skill as a warrior alone.”

“Wishful thinking.”, Proton said as everyone received their normal weapons back. “You’ve been weakened significantly as a result of our attacks. And that means we can defeat you.” He inserted his Galaxy Saber into his shield as the other Rangers prepped their own Morphers.

“Ultimate Galaxy Attack!” The 9 Rangers fired their beams at Cha-ChaMari, knocking her out of the window and causing her to explode.

However, a growth implant within her body activated, restoring her as a giant. “How do you like me now, small fries?”, she shouted. “Now I can make a big impact on the universe as its new empress.”

* * *

From the ground, Dr. Cerebron watched Cha-ChaMari grandstand as he loaded his ship. “Look at her, grandstanding. She thinks being Gingaku’s daughter entitles her to bragging.”

“Let her be.”, Dark Soul said as he approached. “This planet is lost to us. The Rangers will defeat her and while that happens, we’ll make our getaway to a new planet.”

“A good idea.”, Cerebron said. “Do you have any planets in mind?”

“Just one.”, Dark Soul answered him. “One where I’ve got some unfinished business.”

* * *

The 9 Rangers combined all their powers. “Zodiac Megazord, ready!”

“Like that going to impress me.”, Cha-ChaMari mocked. She then released black ink at the Megazord, blocking everyone’s view. “Here, boy.” She then clicked her fingers, summoning a cloned Terrorvore from the ground to wrap itself around the Zodiac Megazord.

“What the?”, Proton said as his cockpit began to shake.

“I’ve been saving my pet for your destruction.”, Cha-ChaMari stated. She then fired her cannon at the Rangers, buffeting them all.

* * *

It was at this point that Yuri’s trio found their way to a damaged part of the building, observing the battle. “They need our help.”, he stated.

“You’re right.”, Scales stated.

“Let’s get in there.”, Mila prepped her Morpher.

* * *

“Let’s go.”, Cha-ChaMari stated as she began swinging her whip.

“Indeed.”, Proton said as he pressed his lever forward. The Zodiac Megazord broke free of the Terrorvore’s grip, knocking it into its owner. “Now we can keep attacking them.”

“Way ahead of you.” The Orion Zord, detached from the Shooting Star Ship, appeared and fired at the two enemies, knocking them back. “We’re here to help out.”, Yuri radioed.

He then combined with the main ship, while the other two went into their usual cockpits. “Shooting Star Megazord, ready!”

“Why you!”, Cha-ChaMari stated as she and her pet ran towards their two opponents. The self-proclaimed empress faced down the Shooting Star, while the Terrorvore went for the Zodiac. However, neither villain was able to overpower their opponent.

Proton activated the Zodiac Megazord’s final attack. “Twelve Star Supernova!” The energy zapped the Terrorvore, weakening it, but not killing it.

“How dare you!”, Cha-ChaMari shouted as she fired purple lasers from her chest. Yuri merely beat these back with his club arm and then knocked her to the ground, alongside her pet. “How dare you strike your new empress!”

“Well, your majesty, we’re about to dethrone you.”, Yuri stated. He then teleported into the Zodiac Megazord as the Shooting Star assumed its Big Bang Cannon formation.

“Give it your best shot.”, Cha-ChaMari said as she and her pet got up.

“Cosmic Alignment Galaxy Blast!” The Zodiac Megazord channelled it’s energies into the cannon and fired at the two enemies, critically wounding them.

“I don’t believe this.”, Cha-ChaMari stated. “I was supposed to be the ruler.” And then she and her Terrorvore breathed for the final time as their bodies went up in flames with their ambitions.

“This Universe is ours.” The twelve Rangers all declared.

* * *

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

The Rangers took off from the planet as Gingaku’s self destruct mechanism went off. And due to the energy that Aporioshi had absorbed from the planet core earlier, the explosion ended up tearing the planet apart with it. “We really did it.”, Drago stated. “After 5 years of pain for the universe, Gingaku is gone.”

“Not quite.”, Myron informed him. “Dr. Cerebron got away with his research. And Yuri tells me that Dark Soul is still out there. Plus, we still have some remnants to mop up.”

“Oh we can get around to mopping up remnants in due time.”, Heath assured him. “Even after all this time, you choose to sweat the details.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”, Myron shrugged. “For now, we should celebrate our victory. Gingaku’s remnants are too small and fractured to pose any current threat.”

And within a few minutes, the Rangers had a large spread layer out in front of them, courtesy of Slash. “Everybody dig in.”, he said with an unusual smile on his face. “We’ve got a lot to celebrate today, so I made a large spread.”

“Yeah, I haven’t eaten like this in decades.”, Proton said. He looked out the porthole of the ship, seeing a ghostly vision of his friend Corvin give him a wave, before fading away. “Perhaps I could share some of my adventures with you.”, he suggested.

And so, the Rangers celebrated for several hours, knowing that while a threat would rear its ugly head in time, for now they were at peace. As was the whole universe for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episodes 46 and 43 (in that order) of Kyuranger. 
> 
> Special thanks to Sh Ranger on Tokunation for giving me a rough outline for two of the fights in this chapter. The Gingaku and Neo-Bullroid fights were easier, since the former is in the Sentai and the latter didn’t require a lot of creative choreography. 
> 
> While Gingaku and Cha-ChaMari are gone, Yamashi and Cerebron are still out there. And with what they took with them, you can guess where I’m going for the fic’s final arc.


	34. Clash of the Defenders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers are recruited to help the Galactic Police help track down a dangerous criminal. But things get complicated when most of the Rangers are placed under his control.

** Providence Base, Earth. **

It was late at night. The duty guard was patrolling the hallway, making sure there were no intruders. It was a recent innovation added in response to Gingaku having turned one of the Rangers against them. Commander Goodman was no longer taking any chances in assuming what the enemy might pull to infiltrate and retake the structure. And tonight, the guard could tell she was justified. “Hey!”, the guard called out to a shadowy figure, coming out of the vault. “What’re you doing here?”

“Drat.”, the figure commented as he emerged from the shadows, revealing himself as a figure in silver armour with blue highlights, adorned with a cape and wearing a helmet shaped like a typical UFO. “I should’ve anticipated there’d be guards.”

“Yes, you should’ve.” The duty guard said as he pulled out a stun baton. “You can tell Gingaku that they won’t be taking their Control Gear back.”

The stranger laughed at this. “I’m not with Gingaku.”, he stated, as he zapped the guard with a beam from his hand, rendering him unconscious. “But my goals are currently much the same. To destroy the Power Rangers.” He then teleported away, taking with him the item he had stolen: the Reanimiser.

* * *

** Planet Almeranac, the Coronet System. **

The Rangers were speaking with one of the planet’s dignitaries. “I thank you, Power Rangers, for your help in liberating our world from its Planetary Controller.”, he said.

“Oh, it was nothing really.”, Winda assured him. “With the main Gingaku Brainworld destroyed and its remaining leaders all scattered throughout the universe, we have plenty of time to deal with their smaller, more localised forces.”

“We can deal with the remnants scattered around our planet.”, the dignitary assured them. “You presumably have other business to attend to.”

“Thanks again for allowing us to help you.”, Yuri nodded. Then the 12 Rangers were teleported back up.

* * *

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

The twelve Rangers began discussing recent events. “I could go on taking down Gingaku remnants for a while.”, Scales said.

“It’s a heck of a lot easier than the big shots.”, Jiro concurred.

Myron however, was less upbeat. “Don’t forget, Dark Soul and Dr. Cerebron are both still out there. We have no idea what they’ll do next, especially with that energy they collected.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about them.”, Mila said. “We can handle other problems until they rear their ugly heads.”

It was then that an alert sounded. “We have an incoming message.”, Heath reported from the apparatus. “From the… G5 Galactic Summit?”

The holographic image of a man in red metal armour, adorned with golden shoulder pads and sporting a pair of blue eyes, appeared in front of the Rangers. “ _Hello Power Rangers. I am Sheriff Skyfire of the Galactic Police. We are requesting your help in apprehending a dangerous fugitive from the law.”_

“Hold on.”, Proton said. “The Power Rangers are universal saviours, not errand boys for the galactic five-o. What makes you think…?”

“ _This isn’t a matter for debate, sir.”, the Sheriff replied. “Our agents will be beaming aboard shortly.”_

Sure enough, two new figures appeared in the bridge of the ship. They were a figure in silver armour decorated with black lines with a silver wash and a middle-aged human male with short, dark hair and a goatee. “Greetings Power Rangers.”, the silver figure said. “I’m sure you’ll forgive our hijacking of your ship, but we feel you are uniquely suited for the recapture of this criminal.”

“Look, who is this criminal that you think we’d be suited to help you take him out?”, Slash asked indignantly. “And who are you anyway?”

“My apologies.”, the silver figure answered him. “I am Captain Chaku of the G5 Summit. This human accompanying me is Ryan Steele, formerly of a clandestine earthbound group known as the Virtual Reality Troopers.”

The man - Ryan - took over. “As for the criminal we’re after, he’s a guy known as Kabujin.” He brought up a holographic image of Kabujin. Unbeknownst to the Rangers, he was the same figure that had stolen the reanimiser from Providence Base. “Me and my friends fought for years against a group of invaders from a virtual reality, trying to penetrate normal reality. We eventually took them out, but Kabujin was one we missed. He managed to escape through the reality barrier and leave the planet before we were even aware he existed.”

“He eventually joined up with a crime family I was assigned to hunt down.”, Captain Chaku continued. “They helped convert him into a real being and accepted him as a member in secret. We weren’t aware of his involvement with the group until long after I thought I’d wiped out their last member. When we discovered Kabujin was active again, I was brought out of retirement to hunt him down. When we discovered his origins, Ryan here was brought on to help me as a consultant.”

“You still haven’t answered Slash’s question.”, Drago pointed out. “Why come to us?”

“Because it’s come to my attention that Kabujin may have designs concerning you, Rangers.”, Chaku replied. “He recently broke into your base on Earth and stole several weapons from your vault. Among them was a “reanimiser”, left over from my case concerning Ryjack. I should’ve taken greater care in retrieving it.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Captain.”, Heath said. “If anything, I should’ve destroyed the weapon at the first opportunity I had. Instead, I just threw it into our vault.”

The other Rangers were confused by this. “I’m probably missing something.”, Barry stated. “What’s a ‘reanimiser’?”

“It’s a weapon that can scan objects for the psychic imprint of their original owners and then recreate said owners exactly as they were at the moment of death.”, Myron answered. “Spectrum had me steal one from Grid Battleforce while he was building his forces up. It’s how those old villains reappeared during the Omega-Zero. It also where Robo Knight came from during Cobras’ stint as the Void Ranger.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”, Cobras commented sarcastically.

“The point is that with the reanimiser, Kabujin could bring back an army of the worst scum to plague the universe.”, Ryan stated. “We need to use your ship’s long range scanner to pinpoint his location and stop whatever he’s planning.”

“I’ll get to work.”, Myron said as he began operating the console. “Who knows how much progress Kabujin has made with his new toy.”

* * *

**Kabujin’s Hideout.**

In a deserted warehouse, Kabujin was working on a machine. “Everyone was a fool.”, he said as he plugged three cables into three cubicles. “They had no idea of the potential that this device could be capable of.” He then placed a different item into each cubicle; a large machine gun in the first cubicle, an ornately-carved sword into the second and a broken blade into the third. “But I am less naive. I will use the full potential of this device.” He plugged the reanimiser into a terminal connected to the three cubicles and pulled the trigger. “Now rise, my allies in evil.”

The gun channeled it’s energies into the machine that had been constructed, zapping the weapons in the cubicles. The weapons were surrounded by the energy, transforming into exact replicas of their original users. The gun transformed into a human woman, Caucasian with brown hair that had a purple stripe down the front, wearing a black uniform with a purple segment. This was Robo-Roxy, one of two robotic replicas of the avatars created by the Evox Virus. The second cubicle contained a red-coloured piratical alien, mostly red with a fur collar and golden skulls on his shoulders. This was Bucchan, a former Area Controller from Earth. The third cubical contained a skeletal looking creature with red-coloured parts on his body. This was Deker, the rogue Nighlok that had been obsessed with the Samurai Red Ranger. Of the three, it was Roxy who broke the silence first. “Where are we?”, she asked their benefactor. “And who are you?”

“Friends, I am Kabujin.”, was his answer. “I have restored you all to life following your previous defeats. And I can provide each of you with your own army.” He fired the reanimiser wildly, creating Tronics, the robotic servants of Evox, X-Borgs, the robots that had fought against the Megaforce Rangers and Moogers, the spawned servants of the Nighlok leader Master Xandred. “All you have to do is help me out.”

“Help you with what?”, Bucchan asked. “If you think I’m gonna get involved with Power Rangers again, then forget it. They’re nothing but trouble.”

“My friend, I wouldn’t worry about the Power Rangers stopping my goals.”, Kabujin assured him. “In fact, they’re going to help me in that goal. But for that to happen, you’ll all need to play your part.”

* * *

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

As the Ship travelled through space, Myron’s detecter started beeping. “I’ve found the signal.”, he called out.

“You have?”, Chaku asked. “That’s good news. Where are they located?”

“On Matoine.”, Myron answered. “We’ve had some history with that place, back when it was still inhabited.”

“It’s the perfect place to hide out.”, Cobras stated. “Who’d think to hide out on a dead planet?”

“On the plus side, we can take him down much earlier and easier.”, Mila said. “When do we set off?”

“Oh no, Mila.”, Ryan stopped her. “I’m keeping you and Drago behind with me, in case something goes wrong.”

“A good idea.”, Drago nodded. “Sending out a fraction of our resources will allow us to respond to any surprises they might have for us.”

“It won’t matter.”, Yuri assured her. “We’ll take out Kabujin’s army and then come back and relax after a job well done, isn’t that right Captain Chaku?”

“Your enthusiasm is well-advised, Yuri.”, Chaku nodded. “Let us go.” Drago operated the apparatus, transporting the 11-strong away party to their destination.

* * *

**Planet Matoine, Uncategorised Space.**

The 11 landed in the middle of a city centre. “This place looks familiar.”, Scales said. “Though I remember it having more people, don’t you buddy?”, he asked Cobras.

“Of course it’s emptier.”, Cobras said. “Gingaku came by and did a number on this place. Namely, Omega-Zero.”

“Aww, it’s cute that you know Zero is a number.” Everyone turned around to see Roxy standing on a balcony, along with Bucchan and Deker. “Because it’s the number of you that’ll be walking away with your lives.”

Chaku in particular was shocked to see the villains. “Roxy and Deker. How are you here?”, he asked. “Records show that you were destroyed on Earth.”

“And I’m sure that the red guy was kicked out of life by Myron’s brother.”, Jiro said about Bucchan. “Maybe it’s that reanimiser-thingy.”

“You’re not as dumb as you look.”, Bucchan responded. Then the Rangers clutched their heads in pain, before collapsing into unconsciousness. “Oh wait, you fell for our little feint to knock you unconscious.”

“Unfortunately, I’m immune to such sonic tricks.”, Chaku said as he leapt up to the villain’s vantage point and begun fighting them in hand-to-hand.

“That may be, Captain.” Chaku was then hit by a ray from afar, knocking him unconscious. “But I prepared something separate especially for you.”, Kabujin concluded. “I only got my hands on 10 of the Rangers. But that should be enough for what I have planned.”

* * *

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

“Guys, come in.”, Mila said with increasing desperation as she worked the controls. “It’s no good.”, she told the other two. “I can’t raise any of them.”

“Something must’ve happened on the planet.”, Drago realised. “But what?”

His question soon answered itself, as the image of Kabujin appeared on the monitor. “ _Ladies and Gentle-beings, I welcome you to the first of many epic brawls to the finish, live from right here on Planet Matoine. And now, let’s go over to my lovely co-host Roxy for some colour commentary.”_

_Then Roxy appeared on the scene. “Today’s competitors are the Rangers who’ve been fighting to save the universe. On one side, we have the Red, Black, Yellow and Sky Rangers.” Yuri, Tarrant, Slash and Barry indeed stepped forward, as if in a trance. “And on the other side, we have the Fire Knight, the Orange Ranger and the Pink Ranger.” Sure enough, Myron, Proton and Winda were their opponents. “7 challengers enter, one survives to fight on. But who will it be?”_

* * *

**Planet Matoine.**

Bucchan stood on the sidelines of the battle, as the referee. “Ready, set. Fight!”, he called out.

The Rangers pulled out their Cosmo Spheres and morphed, charging at each other, weapons at the ready. They engaged in a brief firefight, before switching to certain opponents. The two Reds ended up against each other, swords locked. “You can’t hope to beat me.”, Proton stated. “I am the strongest!”

“Don’t bet on it.”, Yuri responded, before being pushed back by his enemy’s shield. As Proton charged forward, he was stopped by Jiro, who threw the Fire Knight over his shoulder.

“And it looks like the Blue Ranger has joined today’s brawl.”, Roxy stated. “But the Fire Knight jumps back into the fray and wrestles the newly morphed opponent.”

“I’m gonna rip your throat in half.”, Jiro threatened.

“Wishful thinking.”, Proton said as he threw his opponent back and then stood back as Cobras and Scales appeared to hold him back.

“You’re open.”, Yuri called out as he jumped down with his Cosmo Saber. The hit knocked Proton back, but not out. The two thus continued their sword fight.

* * *

“ _And elsewhere in our complex, Yellow and Pink are going at it.”, Roxy announced_ as Slash and Winda engaged each other in a fight. Slash grabbed his opponent and swung her around on the floor, which she used to kick him and swing her way back up. “You go, girl.”

The two then locked weapons. “Only one of us can make the hit.”, Winda stated. “And it won’t be you.”

“Don’t be so sure.”, Slash said as he broke the deadlock, swinging his Cosmo Dagger.

* * *

Elsewhere, Barry was thrown back as Tarrant faced Myron. “ _And the rest of the Rangers are giving it their all.”, Roxy announced_ as Myron dodged hits and projectiles from the other two, before countering with his Cosmonata.

Myron was pushed back against the wall. “This doesn’t look good.”, he said as his opponents flexed. “For you.” He said as he charged at them.

* * *

“And back with our Red battle, the Fire Knight has the upper hand. But Red assumes his Solar form to fight fire with fire. And despite it working, he switches out for Pegasus, to push his opponent back further.”

“Time to end you.”, Proton said to his opponent as he inserted and removed his Galaxy Saber from his shield. The flaming sword hit Yuri, knocking him back to his normal mode.

“That won’t stop me.”, Yuri said as he charged forward again.

* * *

From the main studio, Captain Chaku had a good view of events from his chains. “Why do this?”, Chaku asked as he saw the Rangers destroying each other. “Why revive these villains if you were just going to have the Rangers destroy each other?”

“Every showman needs an act.”, Kabujin stated. “Too many people want to rule over the universe today. I think it’s better to give the people what they want: entertainment in the form of violence. And these revived villains can help make my dream reality.”

Chaku tried to move forward, but was held back by Deker. “But what happens when the Rangers destroy each other? Your show won’t last long without contestants.”

“Precisely, Captain.”, Kabujin replied. “Once people see the show has a Power Ranger as its main champion, people will be scrambling in to challenge them for the title. And when someone eventually claims it, people will want to beat him. And so on and so forth as long as there’s an audience.” He then turned away from his captives. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a show to run.”

* * *

Down at the battlefield, the fight between the Rangers continued to heat up, with no end in sight. Then Mila and Ryan teleported down to the planet. “Stop it.”, Mila called out. “You’re going to destroy each other.” Jiro continued in a punch out with Scales and Cobras. “You’re friends, you shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I’m afraid they can no longer hear you.”, Bucchan said. “They’ve all been hit with aggression waves being transmitted from the central tower. The only way to restore it is to switch it off.”

“Don’t tell them that, you idiot.”, Roxy growled, morphing into her armoured form. “Now we have to stop them before they can shut it off. Tronics!” Her robotic footsoldiers appeared.

“Oh, right. X-Borgs!”, Bucchan nervously responded, as his new servants teleported in. “Stop them.” Both sets of robots charged at their targets.

Mila help back some of them with her Cosmo Blade, before slashing them back. “I’ll hold these guys off, you head for the tower.” She then delivered a kick to a stack of crates, knocking them onto a pair of Tronics.

“I’m sure you can handle this.”, Ryan said as he kicked a pair of X-Borgs into each other, clearly expecting something to happen. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.” He then took off.

“You can’t save your friends.”, Bucchan stated as he and Roxy engaged Mila in battle, locking their weapons with hers. “This will be your end.”

* * *

In the control tower, Ryan kicked the door in, bursting into the room. “So this is your operation, Kabujin. Pretty quaint.”

“Ryan Steele.”, Kabujin said with some bitterness. “You’re a long way from Earth. But then again, it doesn’t matter where I kill you in the end.” He pulled out his sword and begun swinging it at his opponent.

However, Ryan dodged this and went straight for Captain Chaku, helping untie him from his restraints. “Thanks, Ryan.”, Chaku said as he moved forward and punched Deker back. “Now I can do some damage control.”

“No.”, Kabujin growled. “Stop them, you fool.”, he yelled at Deker.

A yell that came too late, as Ryan smashed the transmitter apparatus.

* * *

On the ground, the Rangers continued their brawl, before Chaku leapt in and punched them all out. “Rangers, wake up. You’re all free.”, he called out.

Sure enough everyone came to. “What happened?”, Yuri asked. “How did we get here?”

“Kabujin brainwashed you into fighting each other.”, Mila said as she came up to them. “But you’re free now.”

“That may be true.”, Kabujin said, appearing with a captive Ryan. “But you haven’t thwarted my plans.” He clicked his fingers, teleporting all bu Yuri, Mila, Proton and Chaku away. “You’ve just made me put them on hold. I can start over once I’ve destroyed you.” He clicked his fingers, causing an army of Rinshi, Moogers, X-Borgs and Tronics to charge. “Take care of them.”

“Guys.”, Yuri said as he stepped forward, pressing his Big Bang Sphere. “Let’s take them out.”

“Right.”, Mila said as she pulled out her Cosmo Sphere and inserted it into her Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” She morphed into the Green Ranger.

“Big Bang Energy, Unleash!”, Yuri inserted his Big Bang Sphere and spun it, morphing into the Big Bang Ranger. Across 4 locations, the 11 Rangers began fighting off armies of grunts. “The Warrior of Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

* * *

Myron was facing Robo-Roxy. “Venom of the Scorpion, Orange Ranger!”

* * *

Jiro fought with Deker. “Claw of the Wolf, Blue Ranger!”

* * *

Cobras and Scales fought off foot-soldiers, with Cobras having assumed his Void mode. “The Envoy of the Dark, Silver Ranger: Void Mode!”

“The Balance Between Good and Evil,” Scales said at the same time as Cobras, with the two ultimately doing a back-to-back pose. “Gold Ranger!”

* * *

Tarrant also faced Deker. “Strength of the Bull, Black Ranger!”

* * *

Mila fought off some of Kabujin’s Moogers and X-Borgs. “Stealth of the Chameleon, Green Ranger!”

* * *

Winda was being swung around by Myron to fight off Roxy. “Agility of the Eagle, Pink Ranger!”

* * *

Slash took on Bucchan with Barry. “Blade of the Swordfish, Yellow Ranger!”

“Howl of the Bear, Sky Ranger!”

* * *

Finally, Proton was fighting off more grunts. “The Burning Challenger, Fire Knight!”

Ryan, now free from captivity, held up a small pendant, known as the virtualiser. “Trooper Transform! We Are VR!” A flash of blue light enveloped him, creating his suit, which was comprised of blue armour with silver highlights and a green insignia on his chest. He and Chaku began punching at Kabujin, who held his own. “See Ya.”

“Not bad old timer.”, Yuri said as he and Proton thrust their swords at Kabujin. Both then kicked him back further.

“This is for my friends.”, Mila cried out as she swung her Cosmo Blade down on Kabujin, before kicking him back.

“You’re all pretty tough.”, Kabujin stated as he recovered. The 5 heroes then stood side-by-side. “But try and find the real me.” He did an evil ninja pose, creating two duplicates of himself.

“I’ll take them all on.”, Mila said as she ran forward, followed by Yuri and Proton and finally by the two non-Ranger allies.

* * *

Mila faced one of the three in a corridor, locking blades and using acrobatics to dodge his hits. Eventually, she managed to knock him back with her Blade. “I’ll take you down for your interference.”, Kabujin stated as his head detached, firing lightning at Mila. But she blocked and dodged all of his shots, before he gave up and reattached his head, continuing the fight in earnest. “I should’ve made sure all the Rangers were present before beginning transmission.”

“Well you made a mistake.”, Mila said as she was held by his grip.

* * *

Elsewhere, Cobras made short work of the opponents he was facing, along with Scales.

* * *

Slash and Barry were pushed back by Bucchan. “This is the last time you Rangers ruin my life.”, the former Area Controller said. The other two swung their weapons at him, being blocked and knocked back.

Barry allowed Bucchan to grab his weapon, before he somersaulted back to Slash. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”, he stated. He then pulled his Cosmo Sphere back twice and aimed at Bucchan. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” He fired the beam, hitting Bucchan and surrounding him with energy.

“Oh no, not again.”, Bucchan stated as he exploded once more.

* * *

In another part of the city, Myron and Winda were avoiding Roxy’s blasts. “You Rangers are annoying, no matter which team it is.”, she snarled.

“You’ve got that right.”, Winda said in response, before jumping into the air and firing on her opponent.

Myron then used his Unicorn Arm to slash at her. “Because unlike you, we have something to fight and win for.” As he dodged more of her shots, he removed the Unicorn Sphere and plugged it into his Cosmonata. “Our friends.”

Winda likewise placed her Cosmo Sphere onto her Blaster.

“Cosmic Energy Attack!”, both stated, launching their attacks at Robo-Roxy, damaging her significantly.

“I can’t believe I let myself get destroyed.”, she blurted out before exploding.

* * *

Jiro and Tarrant continued to face Deker, dodging his sword Uramasa as he prepared for another attack. The two charged at him and pushed the sword away as he passed under them. He then knocked Tarrant out of the way, before throwing Jiro over him. “I’m ready to take this guy out.”, Jiro said.

“So am I.”, Tarrant said as he placed his Cosmo Sphere onto his Axe, with Jiro doing likewise with his Claw. “Cosmic Energy Crash!”

“Cosmic Energy Scratch!” The two attacks hit Deker, destroying him once more.

* * *

Elsewhere, Proton and Yuri were fighting another Kabujin. “Do you think he’s the real one?”, Yuri asked.

“I don’t know, but he’s a good fighter.”, Proton said as they kept up the attack, knocking Kabujin back.

* * *

Ryan and Chaku took on the third and final Kabujin. “You’re under arrest for association with known felons, theft and illegal broadcasting.”, Chaku said as he slashed at the enemy.

“Read him the rights later.”, Ryan said as he helped knock Kabujin down.

“Nice try.”, Kabujin said as he kicked Chaku back, with Ryan coming in close to restrain him.

“See Ya.”, Ryan said as he threw Kabujin over his head, towards a recovering Chaku.

“Enforcer Punch!”, Chaku said as he hit Kabujin with a powerful punch, knocking him into the ground.

* * *

Mila was then slashed back by her Kabujin. “You’re all getting really annoying.”, he stated, as he continued to punch her back, causing her to slide across the floor and demorph. “I can see why Gingaku had difficulty with you.”

* * *

Chaku and Ryan prepared to finish off their Kabujin. “Enforcer Strike!”

“VR Laser Saber Command, Now!” The two swords glowed with light, sending energy towards the Kabujin they slashed, who exploded.

* * *

“Take this.”, Yuri and Protons’ Kabujin said as he launched another attack at the two with his cape. But Proton blocked it with his shield as he moved in.

Then Yuri delivered a slash to the Kabujin, before holding him with his cape. “Kyle, go for it.”

“Okay.”, Proton said as he inserted his Galaxy Saber into his shield and pulled it out again. “Burning Calibur!” The attack hit Kabujin, damaging him on impact.

“Big Bang Energy Blast!”, Yuri called out as he charged his Saber with energy from his enhanced Morpher, destroying the copy with one slash.

* * *

Mila got up from the floor and continued fighting Kabujin. “It’s not the powers that make the Ranger.”, she stated as she stabbed him backwards with her Blade. “It’s the Ranger that makes the powers.” She then converted the Cosmo Blade into a Saber. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”, she said as she inserted her Chameleon-07 Sphere onto the handle and charged.

But before she could land the hit, Kabujin was hit from behind by a newcomer. “Didn’t see that coming.”, Kabujin commented as he collapsed, fading into nothingness.

The killer was Yamashi, wielding Gingaku’s twin swords. “The fool shouldn’t have transmitted his show.”, Yamashi stated. “He led me right to the reanimiser, a weapon capable of creating an instant army to serve my will.” He held up said weapon. “Now my real ambitions can begin to flower.”

“So that’s why we haven’t seen you for a while.”, Mila said as she brought her Saber up, ready for the kill. “Well if you want to destroy us, then let’s get this over with.” She brought the weapon down…

…where it was blocked by Yamashi. “I’m not going to destroy you Rangers. Yet.” He then knocked Mila out of the way. “I still have business on Earth to take care of. Then I’ll deal with you.” He then teleported out, taking his ill-gotten gains with him.

* * *

**The Shooting Star Ship.**

Some time later, the Rangers and their allies had returned to the ship and taken off into space. “We can’t thank you enough.”, Captain Chaku assured them. “Thanks to you, the last remnant of both our enemies has been taken out.”

“We can both retire in peace.”, Ryan added.

“It’s a shame that Yamashi got away with the reanimiser.”, Mila lamented. “Who knows what Yamashi will use it for?”

“That’s something we’re going to go and find out,”, Myron assured her. “And rest assured Captain, we will ensure the destruction of the reanimiser.”

“That’s good to know.”, Chaku said. “Now I will take Ryan back home to Earth. Since you’re also headed for Earth, can I offer you a lift?”

“Thank you, Captain.”, Drago nodded. “But we’d prefer to make our own way to Earth.”

“I’ll take a lift home.”, Heath said. “With Yamashi and Cerebron out there, who knows what will happen to the people of my planet?”

“Very well.”, Chaku nodded. “Have you discussed this with the others on your ship?”

“We’ve been expecting it for a while.”, Yuri answered him. “Heath’s pretty much been the one weak link we have on the ship. He’s not a Ranger, but he can handle himself in a fight. We’ll be sure he can defend his planet.”

“Thank you.”, Heath nodded as he rejoined the G5 duo. “Shall we, gentlemen?”

“Indeed.”, Chaku nodded. “Goodbye Rangers.” With that said, the three teleported out, leaving the 12 Rangers alone.

“Course has been set for Earth.”, Winda reported. “We will be there soon if we set off now.”

“So then, what’re we waiting for?”, Proton asked. “Let’s go.” As they did so, Proton cringed, once more feeling a pain in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on the Kyuranger vs Space Squad V-Cinema. 
> 
> This chapter isn’t strictly necessary, but I was short on plot for the last few chapters. Plus I can do this, so I thought “why not?” 
> 
> This is the first chapter since the first to feature no Megazord battle. I considered putting the one from Episode 39 of Kyuranger in here, but decided it wasn’t strictly necessary. Plus, thanks to chapter 7 featuring 3 in one chapter, I still have one for every chapter.


	35. The Greatest Mind in Creation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now back on Earth, Yuri leads a team to help Myron and Tarrant defeat Dr. Cerebron for good. Meanwhile, the rest of the Rangers must protect Pamela from Yamashi and his new servants.

**A Quarry Near Corona City, Earth.**

Dark Soul and Cerebron had landed on Earth, awaiting the arrival of their fellow remnants. Said remnants appeared in short order. They were a robot with a sideways set of fangs and a pair of purple blades on his arms, an alien with a head shaped like 4 lamp heads with an eye in the centre and white, cog-shaped armour on his body, a mechanical being that looked like he was made of screws and gears that wielded a hammer and an alien wearing what resembled baseball gear with a long neck. “Is that all we can muster?”, Cerebron asked.

“With the Rangers having taken out most of the others, yes.”, the third of them said. “How can we reclaim our former glory like this? How can we reconquer the universe?”

“That’s a matter for later.”, Dark Soul answered him. He had removed his black armoured look in favour of a more causal get-up, consisting of a red shirt with a black jacket and white trousers. “For now, I have my own objectives to achieve.”

“Why are you dressed like that?”, the last of the 4 aliens asked. “That doesn’t look like a regulation uniform. If we didn’t know it was you, you’d be out.”

Dark Soul eyed him with anger. “This look is part of my plan.”, he answered. “I am but two steps away from consolidating my power after my latest acquisition.”

“Ah yes, the reanimiser.”, the robot of the 4 stated. “A powerful weapon indeed. We can use it to bring back an army.” He reached to pick up the gun.

However, Dark Soul grabbed the weapon before him, crushing it to pieces and picking up a crystal from among them. “The weapon itself is irrelevant. All I require is this Anima Core.” He then swallowed said core. “Just in case any of you were thinking of using it against me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”, Dr. Cerebron claimed. “In fact, you go and carry out your plan, with the help of these warriors and your new toy. I won’t get in your way.”

Dark Soul was confused, but shrugged it off. “Okay then. Let’s go.”

As soon as the other 5 were gone, Cerebron began to laugh to himself. “I don’t need you fools anymore. With Gingaku gone, I’m loyal to no-one but myself. Now, to finish my work.”

* * *

**Providence Base.**

Elsewhere, the 12 Rangers brought the Shooting Star Ship down to land near the base they had helped the Earth Resistance Force to secure. The 12 Rangers emerged from the ship to be met with Commander Goodman and an older man. “Good to have you back on Earth, Rangers.”, the Commander saluted them. “What brings you back here? How’d your battle with Gingaku himself go?”

“I wouldn’t worry about Gingaku anymore.”, Myron assured her. “We sent him up in an explosion. And if that’s not proof enough, Yuri here was in the same explosion.”

“But the bad news is that his bodyguard escaped and made his way here.”, Drago took over. “And so did another of Gingaku’s top brass.”

“That’s troubling.”, Goodman said with worry that was unusual for her. “I’ll have Caldwell here scan for any unusual activity on Earth. But why would this bodyguard come to Earth? What’s here that he wants?”

“That’s gonna be a tricky one to explain.”, Mila said. “Let’s just say that he’s going after Pamela, due to her connection to Yuri.” Mila then realised the absence of the subject they were discussing. “Where is Pamela anyway? Isn’t she normally by your side?”

Goodman gulped at this. “Pamela retired from the ERF soon after you left. She said that with the assurance you’d be doing something about Gingaku’s rule over other planets, she felt secure in returning to a normal life.”

“Oh that’s just what we need.”, Yuri said with frustration. “Let’s spread out and find her. We need to make sure she’s okay. Is that understood?”

Proton stood there in a daze for a second, before responding. “Yes, understood. Find your girlfriend, keep her safe.”

“You’ll need these.”, Goodman said, handing a portable radio to each of the Rangers. “I don’t know your frequencies, so I held onto these in case you came back and needed to keep in contact.”

“Well, that’s all in order.”, Drago said. “Rangers, let’s go.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

It was a small city, boasting among its few attractions a thriving racing scene, a local milkshake shop that boasted the best reviews in 5 counties, a large damn on the outskirts, a huge untapped oil well, multiple rich families in residence and huge, eco-friendly enterprises that had been implemented within the last two decades.

However, none of this mattered to Dr. Cerebron, who approached the centre of town accompanied by a pair of Neo-Bullroids, where a burnt out machine lay on the ground. It was a leftover from the tenure of the previous mayor, who had turned out to be a robot, trying to close the city off in a force field so he could turn it into his own personal kingdom. Even without a group of Power Rangers destroying him, his popularity perished when his true intentions came out. “It’s still intact enough for my purposes.”, Cerebron noted as he examined the device. “But it’s out of juice to function. A fact I intend to rectify shortly.” The two Neo-Bullroids brought forth a can of the corrupted Morph-X, or Dark-X, he had extracted from the Legendary Rangers. “This stuff can power anything, be it something as primitive as a AA battery, or as sophisticated as a mystical artefact.” He then had his servants pour the Dark-X onto the device, not only bringing it back to life but also causing a large structure to emerge from it, as Cerebron looked on.

* * *

**Corona City, Florida.**

Mila was looking around the local shopping centre. “Come on, Pam. You have to be somewhere.”, she thought to herself. Soon enough, she saw her target exiting a pharmaceutical store, carrying a small bag of her purchases. “Bingo.” She pulled out her radio, calling the others. “Guys, I found the target in Merkur Square, doing her… afternoon shopping. Get here fast.”

“ _Wait, we’ve got another issue that probably warrants attention.”, Caldwell the Commander’s assistant called in. “A giant structure resembling a Dark Gear has appeared in a city in Oregon, plus a group of bull-looking robots.”_

* * *

“Cerebron.”, Myron radioed from his location, the Mars Co. Industrial Warehouses. “We’re going to have to divide our forces to deal with him and Dark Soul. I’ll take Yuri, Barry, Tarrant, Scales and Cobras to deal with the Oregon situation.”

_“I don’t like it, but it’ll have to do.”, Drago responded. “You five go to Oregon, we’ll handle Dark Soul.”_

* * *

Pamela continued about her day, unaware of the trouble she was in. “I hope Yuri and the others are doing well.”, she thought. “As soon as the universe is free from Gingaku, I can start feeling free to breath.” Then she got a good look at the figure standing in front of her. “It can’t be… Greg?”

Gregory went over to hug his friend. “It’s good to see you again, Pam. After so long in space, I thought I’d never see you again.”

“What happened to you?”, Pamela asked. “Yuri said you we’re caught up in the attack on the shuttle and got separated.”

“I ended up going around Space, drifting from planet to planet, where I managed to take out a few of Gingaku’s Controllers single-handedly. I ended up finding Yuri on the planet Tategami, but his orange friend attacked me and called me an enemy.”

“Don’t listen to him, Pamela.” 5 of the Rangers, Mila, Jiro, Slash, Winda and Drago, dropped down. “He’s trying to trick you by lulling you into a false sense of security.”, Mila continued.

“They’re lying, Pam.”, Gregory insisted. “They just want to keep you away from me, like Yuri.”

“What?”, Pamela said with confusion.

“Does that sound like somethin’ Yuri would do?”, Jiro asked. “He barely remembered his time on Earth, do ya think he’d try and keep one of his links to it away?”

“He’s not the man you knew 5 years ago.”, Slash urged. “He joined up with Gingaku, he’s the guy who drove Yuri’s other personality to attack anyone. Don’t you remember how he was supposedly captured? How do you suppose he got out?”

“I… broke free.”, Gregory insisted. “Who are you going to believe, Pam? These aliens, or your old friend?”

“I’m… going to trust…” Pamela hesitated, before coming to a decision. “The Rangers. Nobody escapes from Gingaku, Greg. And they aren’t in the habit of releasing prisoners either. What really happened to you out there, Greg?”

Gregory immediately stopped acting and began laughing. “Alright, you got me. While in Space, I got rescued by Gingaku, so I joined up with them to get revenge on Yuri for abandoning me in that shuttle.”

“Yuri didn’t abandon you.”, Winda insisted. “He would’ve saved you, but it was difficult to help you in the circumstances, based on my analysis of the footage we recovered.”

“I’m not about to listen to the word of a defective machine.”, Gregory snapped. “Anyway, I realised that remnants of my old life was holding me back from fully destroying Yuri. So I decided to seek out and destroy everything from my past, starting with you, my dear Pamela.”

“That won’t be happening, I’m afraid.”, Drago declared. “Because you’ll have to go through us Rangers first.”

Gregory smirked at this. “I knew you would say that, Dragon Ranger.” Then his four Controllers leapt in, beginning to engage the Rangers. “Which is why I’ve called the last survivors of Gingaku to help me achieve this. I’m shrouding myself in the darkness of the night.” He transformed into his Yamashi form. “Plus, thanks to the Anima Core I took from the reanimiser, I can even the odds exactly.”

He summoned up Diskus’ spinning blades, throwing them up in the air and zapping them with energy, causing a clone of Mila’s former friend Kota to appear. “Good to see you guys.”, he stated as he pulled out the spinning blades. “Taking care of all of you…” he transformed into his monstrous form “…is also part of my job.”

“Oh, now it’s personal.”, Mila said with some anger. “Pamela, get to safety. We’ll handle these creeps.”

“Okay.”, Pamela said as she ran off. The Rangers then proceeded to engage their opponents, with Jiro facing the lamp alien, Winda facing the hammer alien, Mila facing Diskus and the robot alien, Slash facing the baseball alien and Drago taking on Yamashi himself.

* * *

** Copper Falls, Oregon. **

The Rangers went into the town hall, talking to the secretary. “We have an appointment.”, Yuri said to her. “Concerning the giant Gear that’s making itself out of most of your city.”

“That’s okay, Karen.” Everyone turned to see the source of the voice, a middle-aged woman, who spoke with an accent that sounded British, but very faint. This was Copper Falls’ current mayor, Seraphina Darcy, who had taken the post both to carry on the legacy of her mother and to make up for the disaster of her predecessor’s tenure. “You must be the new Power Rangers I’ve heard about. We’ve had our own experience with Power Rangers before. Can you tell us anything about this giant tower?”

“From what I can recall, it’s an Annihilation Gear.”, Myron answered. “A theoretical idea for a type of Dark Gear that could destroy all organic life on a planet if left to operate for long enough. It was among Dr. Cerebron’s ideas on his computer, but he hadn’t actually found a base suitable enough to build it from. Evidently, he found it.”

“Yes.”, Mayor Darcy noted. “This Dr. Cerebron, can you tell me any more about him, other than that he’s obviously nuts if he designed something like that?”

“That’s basically all you need to know.”, Scales answered her. “He’s your run-of-the-mill mad scientist, who’s obsessed with causing destruction on as large a scale as he possibly can.”

“Myron here used to work with him as an assistant.”, Cobras continued. “And Tarrant, our large robotic friend, is one of the doctor’s creations. In fact, I’d say Tarrant is the one good thing to come out of Cerebron’s twisted brain.”

“Sadly, my father doesn’t see it like that.”, Tarrant said, drooping his head. “He thinks I’m a failure just because I have emotions and free will, instead of simply being ‘destroy, destroy, destroy’ like his other inventions.”

“Don’t worry, Tarrant.”, Barry assured his friend. “We’re about to destroy Cerebron and his mad creations once and for all.”

“Well, you’d better get on with it.”, Mayor Darcy urged. “Before he tears anymore of my city down with his ‘Extermination Gear’, or whatever.”

“You can count on us, Madam Mayor.”, Yuri said as he led the others out of the room.

* * *

** Corona City, Florida. **

At the Venere Dam, Proton looked over the railing, feeling the pains in his chest. “What is this?”, he asked. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

“Oh well, that’s too bad.” Proton turned around to see Gingaku, exactly as he had last seen him. “I’d have thought you’d be able to tell me what’s wrong with you.”

“Orbis.”, Proton fumed. “How are you still around? We destroyed you.”

“Oh, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”, Gingaku gloated. “I’ll be with you for the rest of your days, Kyle. You can’t get rid of me.” He then flew into the air.

“I’ll stop you once and for all.”, Proton declared, summoning his Galaxy Saber and inserting his Cosmo Sphere. “Rise! Change!” He transformed into the Fire Knight and began a battle. Gingaku fired energy blasts, which Proton barely dodged, as he continued running across the dam. Proton then tried firing back, but was knocked down by a cheap shot.

Gingaku then appeared next to him and began punching his opponent backwards. “You can’t get rid of me.”, he stated. “I’ll always be with you Kyle.” The two briefly locked swords, but Proton pushed back. He then clutched his chest, feeling the pain once more. “Can you feel that?” Gingaku continued slashing at his opponent, eventually knocking him to the floor. “Just give yourself to me, and you’ll live forever.”

“I’ll never do that.”, Proton declared as he stood up. He then found himself being bombarded at high speed by Gingaku, before being hit with a flurry of lasers, causing him to collapse. The figure of Gingaku then vanished, all evidence he was ever there gone. “He was… just a hallucination.”, Proton realised as he undid his transformation. “I’m probably overworking myself.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Dr. Cerebron once more observed his Annihilation Gear. “It’s almost ready.”, he noted. “Soon, I’ll rid this planet of all its lifeforms, while I survive inside my new machine existence. Then I can turn this planet into a new laboratory.”

“And what happens then?”, the Doctor turned around to see Myron approaching him. “You keep destroying planets, one by one, until nothing is left in the entire universe?”

“You know me too well.”, Cerebron laughed.

“You’re deranged.”, Myron said bluntly. “If I had your intelligence, I’d be putting it to use doing things like ending starvation and poverty. Luckily, I’m already much smarter than you, given I’m not trying something so stupid.”

“Be careful where you stand, boy.”, Cerebron hissed. “You were a fool to come here alone.”

“Who said anything about me being alone?”, Myron smirked. Sure enough, the rest of the Rangers that he had brought with him appeared and kicked one of the Neo-Bullroids back.

“You see Doctor, unlike you, Myron believes in the value of other people and their lives.”, Yuri announced. “You were doomed from the start.”

“Time to make my exit.”, Cerebron said, turning around to try and retreat into his new base.

However, he was stopped by Scales and Cobras jumping in his way. “He also figured out your other major flaw.”, Scales said.

“You’re a coward.”, Cobras continued. “You care so much for yourself that you’re willing to do anything to save your own skin. It’s why you created a method to preserve yourself. It’s why you detached yourself from your body when you faced Myron and Tarrant in your lab.”

“But that won’t be happening here.”, Barry told him. “We’re about to crush your metallic butt to nothing.”

“Very well.”, Cerebron stated. “I’ll stay behind and fight you Rangers here and now. But you won’t be able to stop my work from going ahead.” He fired a beam of energy from his mouth at the Rangers, who dodged out of the way.

“Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” The 6 Rangers all morphed, charging at their opponents. Yuri, Tarrant, Scales and Cobras went for Cerebron himself, while Myron and Barry each took a Neo-Bullroid each. Despite all 3 robotic opponents having cannons on their shoulders, the Rangers pushed through and landed hits with their respective weapons.

“Ah yes, my one failure.”, Cerebron said as he eyed Tarrant. “I should’ve overseen your deactivation myself.”

“Well you didn’t.”, Tarrant said as he struck again with his Cosmo Axe. “And I’m not the biggest failure. If anything, I’m your greatest success.” He then knocked his creator back.

“And this is for all the other artificial life forms you’ve abused.”, Scales said as he fired at Cerebron with his Cosmo Rifle.

“I don’t have a particular grudge against you.”, Cobras said as he continued the assault using his Cosmo Scythe. “But I’m sure you had something to do with my brainwashing, so I’ll take you down all the same.” He hit Cerebron several more times, before knocking him back with one powerful slash.

“I’ll handle the rest.”, Yuri said as he delivered a slash to Cerebron with his Cosmo Saber, before pulling out his Big Bang Sphere. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He summoned up Jiro’s Cosmo Claw, charging it with energy. “Lupus Werewolf Scratch!” After delivering a powerful hit to Cerebron, which knocked one of his arms off, he then summoned up Mila’s Cosmo Blade, also charged with energy. “Chameleon Strike!” This ended up punching a hole in Cerebron’s chest, as Yuri called up Slash’s Cosmo Dagger. “Dorado Swordfish Cutting!” This strike ended up damaging one of Cerebron’s legs, before Yuri began charging up his Big Bang Sphere with energy. “Big Bang Energy Blast!” He fired a beam of rainbow-coloured energy at Cerebron, which knocked him back further. “Try to get up from that.”

“Oh I will.”, Cerebron declared. “Initiate repair system.”

 _{{+++Input received. Repair damage from Big Bang Energy Blast, Dorado Swordfish Cutting, Chameleon Strike and Lupus Werewolf Scratch+++}}_ As the machine body repaired itself, it began blinking a light instead of growing giant like the last one. _{{+++Error. Damage repair safety features has been exceeded. Unable to conduct further repair+++}}_

“What?”, Cerebron hissed.

Elsewhere, Myron and Barry had knocked their opponents down. “What do you say we Plus Up and finish these two off?”, Barry asked as he pulled out his Bear-22 Sphere.

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”, Myron answered as he pulled out his Unicorn-27 Sphere. But before either could insert their Spheres, they were fired on by a Neo-Bullroid, causing them to unintentionally switch.

The two then inserted their Spheres, unaware of the switch. “Plus Up!”

But instead of the usual transformations, it was Myron who grew giant, while Barry gained a horn on his left arm. “I think we must’ve got mixed up.”, Barry shouted.

“Don’t worry about it.”, Myron assured him, smashing his opponent into the ground with his bare hand. “I can actually make use of this.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Barry then plunged his horn arm into his Neo-Bullroid, damaging its central core and causing it to collapse.

“Yes, I can use that power.”, Cerebron hissed. He then reached out tentacles to grab Myron’s arm, aim it towards Cerebron, push the Bear-22 Sphere back and fire. The blast hit Cerebron, causing him to grow to giant size as Myron returned to normal. “How do you like me now?” He then detached his brain from the robot, his containment sphere flying up. “I’ll start over with a new body elsewhere, while you deal with this body.”

“Oh no he doesn’t.”, Yuri said. He then handed his Lion-01 Sphere to Barry. “How’d you like to be at the centre of the Megazord?”

“I’ll do it.”, Barry said, taking the Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher and pushing it left. “Summon Lion Zord!” The Lion cockpit formed around him and connected to the main Zord as it materialised. The Cosmo Megazord then formed, with Orange as the right arm, Black as the left arm, Silver as the right leg and Gold as the left leg.

“What’s the signal, boss?”, Scales asked Barry.

“Let’s destroy this creep.”, Barry said as he moved the Megazord into the air, grabbing the floating container that held what was left of Dr. Cerebron.

“Let me go.”, the Doctor demanded. He was then fired from the Scorpion arm. “Not like that!!”, he cried as he flew threw space, where he met with Yuri in the Shooting Star Megazord, who clubbed him into his Neo-Bullroid, causing both to begin flowing with energy. “I’m the greatest mind in the universe. It shouldn’t end like this.” And then the Neo-Bullroid fell backwards, going up in flames and taking Dr. Cerebron and his evil ambitions with it.

“This Space is ours.”, the 6 Rangers declared.

From the ground, an African-American woman in a mechanic’s overalls looked on, a smile on her face.

* * *

**Corona City, Florida.**

Elsewhere, the 5 Rangers were losing against their six opponents. “You might as well give up, Rangers.”, Yamashi stated. “We have you outnumbered and overpowered.”

“Not for much longer.”, Slash said, pulling out the Sun/Moon Dual Sphere and inserting the Moon end into his Morpher. “Hyper Plus Up!” He transformed into Lunar Mode, running towards his opponents.

Only to be stopped by the robot. “You don’t seem to have actually gotten stronger.”

“Oh I wasn’t trying to make myself stronger.”, Slash smiled. As if on cue, Jiro rose up and began fighting the 6 opponents, managing to gain the upper hand on them, despite being outnumbered.

“Don’t forget about me.”, Proton announced as he leapt in, helping to fight off the enemies.

It was then that the Rangers received a radio signal from Commander Goodman. “ _Good news, Rangers. Pamela is safe and sound at Providence Base. You can get back here.”_

“Oh no.”, Mila realised. “I just hope none of them heard that.”

“The target’s been located.”, the hammer user told Yamashi. “She’s holed up in the stolen Control Gear the Earth resistance took over.”

“Oh really?”, Yamashi said. He promptly released a wave of energy that overwhelmed all of his opponents. “I’ll let you Rangers live. For now.” He then transformed back into Gregory and then began walking off with his warriors. “I have other business to see to.”

“This is bad.”, Winda noted as the 6 enemies teleported out. “What do we do now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 45 of Kyuranger. 
> 
> The 4 remaining Controllers are the 4 monsters from the show I haven’t adapted before this. No name for them will be provided, but you can feel free to make some up. 
> 
> The town of Copper Falls is a shout out to Power Rangers RPM: Re-Geared, another fanfic which you may note has been promoted to inspiration for this fic. The reference to the previous mayor hints that a version of Go-Onger 10 Years Grand Prix happened in this ‘verse. 
> 
> Pay attention to the colours of Gregory’s clothes. They’ll be significant later.


	36. The End Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Yamashi moves to take out Pamela, the Rangers gather and prepare for their final battle. But not everything is as straightforward as it seems.

_In the last instalment of Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders, Yamashi embarked on his campaign to eliminate the last remnants of his old life, starting with his and Yuri’s friend Pamela. While the Rangers fought hard to keep her out of harms way, Yamashi discovered her location as a result of a poorly timed call from Providence Base. What will the Rangers do now?_

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Yuri’s team were still looking over the Annihilation Gear, having deactivated it following the death of Dr. Cerebron. “Wow, this place is really intricate.”, Yuri noted. “It’s a shame we have to destroy it.”

“I know, but it has to be done.”, Myron responded. “We can’t risk human curiosity resulting in this thing being switched back on. Even though we took all the juice out of this thing, there’s nothing to stop a refuelling effort.”

At that point, Cobras ran in. “Bad news, guys.”, he reported. “Mila tells us that Yamashi has found Pamela and is closing in on her location with his army.”

“We have to get going.”, Barry urged. “We don’t know how much time we have.”

Myron hesitated, but then came to a decision. “Demolishing this place can wait. Stopping Yamashi comes first.”, he called out.

“Okay then.”, came Yuri’s reply. “Let’s move out.”

* * *

Outside the structure, Tarrant and Scales were working to dispose of the Neo-Bullroids. “These guys were meant to replace me.”, Tarrant said mockingly. “But they couldn’t replace my superior intellect.”

“Yes, ‘superior’.”, Scales said as he examined his specimen. “The repair system’s still intact on this one.”

He was interrupted in his reverie by the others running out. “There’s a problem back in Corona City.”, Barry yelled. “We need to go.”

“Right.”, Scales said in response, as he picked up something small. “Let’s go.”

* * *

**Providence Base, Outside Corona City.**

A soldier ran into the main control room, where Commander Goodman and Pamela were holed up. “Ma’am, we’ve got some bad news.”, he reported. “Some scaly creature in white armour and a group of other sideshow freaks have shown up. And they called up a group of Gingaku’s goons to attack the guards.”

“It’s him.”, Pamela said. “I don’t know how, but he found me here. I’ve doomed us all.”

“Now now, let’s not pin blame on anyone.”, Goodman said in response. “If anything, it’s my fault. I told the Rangers you were here, because I thought they’d managed to resolve things quickly. Evidently, I was wrong.” She then turned to the soldier. “Keep trying to hold them off for now. If you fail, then simply get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Yes ma’am.”, the soldier saluted as he left the room.

“What’re we going to do?”, Pamela asked.

“I’m going to set Providence Base to self-destruct.”, Goodman answered as she began working the machinery. “Heath showed me how to when we were going over the base. We can make our escape while this creep enters the room and ends up with a face full of explosion.”

Pamela thought about this for a moment, realising that her old friend would likely die. But then she reconsidered: her friend was long gone. Gingaku had seen to that. “Do it, Commander Goodman.”, she urged. “Initiate the self-destruct.”

* * *

Outside the structure, Dark Soul and his army were fighting the Resistance soldiers, when the 5 Rangers still in the areaappeared. “Hey, Dark Soul!”, Mila called out. “You may have beaten us down before, but we’re not out.”

“This is the end.”, Proton stated. “Right here, right n-!” He then collapsed, once more suffering the pains in his chest.

“You can’t even finish your thoughts.”, Dark Soul mocked. “How do you intend to finish my plans?”

“With our help.” The 6 man away team jumping down to join the others. “Your ambitions end today, Dark Soul.”, Yuri stated.

“So now I’m ‘Dark Soul’, eh?”, Dark Soul asked. “I thought I was your friend Gregory.”

“My friend died a long time ago.”, Yuri stated. “You saw to that personally.”

“But now we’re going to avenge him.”, Myron said, indicating the canister in his hand. “We took down Dr. Cerebron and now we’re going to deal with you.”

“Cerebron was a fool.”, Dark Soul stated. “But I see you’ve managed to bring me his Dark-X. I’ll just have to take it from you.” He summoned up Darneko’s claws and the mace used by the Cha-ChaMari clones, using them to call up their original wielders via the Anima Core. “Secure that canister.”

“As you wish, sir.”, Cha-ChaMari said, bowing her head. She charged at the Rangers, swinging her mace at them.

“I don’t like following orders.”, Darneko growled. “But you did bring me back to life, so I’ll help you out.” He then charged in, engaging Tarrant.

As Dark Soul left the scene, the other Rangers continued their battle with his ground forces. Mila delivered a few slashes to the baseball alien, while Yuri faced down the robot and the gear alien, knocking them back with his Cosmo Saber. “I’d better finish this quickly with the Penta Blaster.”, he said, pulling out the Leo-77 Cosmo Sphere.

Cobras took out a few Detainers with his Cosmo Scythe. “I’d better power up too.”, he noted as he pulled out his Void Sphere.

But before either could use their Cosmo Spheres, both were grabbed out of their hands by Kota, now back in his human form. “The boss man knew that you’d use those eventually.”, he mocked the two. “So he had me standing by to make sure you didn’t.”

“Why you.”, Cobras hissed as he ran towards the ninja. “Give them back.”

However, Darneko appeared from a shadow, knocking Cobras back with a slash of his claws. “You’re open.”, he commented.

“Plus, you left this unguarded.”, Cha-ChaMari noted as she grabbed the canister of Dark-X. This and your Cosmo Spheres will be useful for Master Dark Soul’s ambitions.”

“Let’s get to the meeting place.”, Kota said as the rest of the aliens gathered near him. “Our grunts can deal with you.” Then the aliens all teleported out, leaving the Rangers to fight off the Detainers.

* * *

Inside the structure, Dark Soul made his way through the guards, easily beating them in combat.

* * *

And in the main control room, Commander Goodman was finished. “There. The Base will self-destruct in 3 minutes, less than half the time it takes to program the self-destruct. Now then Pamela, let’s go.”

“I don’t think so.” Both women turned to see Dark Soul entering the room. “Pamela will be leaving here with me, I’m afraid.”

“Not while I’m here.”, Goodman insisted. “You’ll have to go through me to get to her?”

“You?”, Dark Soul laughed as he pushed Goodman to one side. “What can an old woman like you hope to do against me?”

“I wouldn’t call myself ‘old’.”, Goodman said as she stood up, putting her Change Bracelet on. “In fact, I prefer ‘experienced’.”

“Wait.”, Pamela said with confusion. “What’re you -?”

Goodman pressed a button on the bracelet, saying “Let’s Fly!” A wireframe formed around her, onto which her Ranger suit was deposited. “I’ve faced tougher opponents than you since your parents were in college.”, she stated. “I saw my home destroyed on my watch, and when Gingaku invaded, I swore that I wouldn’t allow that to happen to anyone again.”

“A touching story.”, Dark Soul stated. “But it won’t save you from me. I’m shrouding myself in the darkness of the night.” He transformed into Yamashi and summoned the swords Gingaku had used in his final battle. “Let’s dance, lady.”

Goodman and Yamashi thus clashed. Goodman pulled out her Wing Saber and delivered a swing to Yamashi, who blocked with his own weapons. She then pulled out her AviAttacker and aimed it.

_Freeze Attack!_

The weapon froze Yamashi, partially, but he managed to break out of it. “Didn’t like that, huh?”, Goodman asked. “Let’s see how you like this. Sky Enforcer!” She summoned her gauntlet-like weapon, leaping backwards to fire a shot in Burst Mode, before leaping forward to hit him head on in Break Mode.

* * *

Outside the Base, the Rangers finished dealing with the Detainers. “That’s the last of them.”, Slash commented.

“Indeed.”, Winda responded. “Now, we should move on to helping out inside Providence Base.”

But before any of them could approach the structure, Providence Base exploded, sending rubble flying over the area. The Rangers were caught in the shockwave, taking a few seconds to recover. “What happened?”, Jiro asked. “Where did that explosion come from?”

“The Commander must’ve activated the base’s self-destruct.”, Myron answered him. “I found out about it when I was working with Spectrum. Heath must’ve shown her how to set it.”

“She gave her life to stop Dark Soul.”, Drago lamented. “Not a bad way to go out.”

“Don’t kill me off just yet.”, Goodman’s voice echoed. Everyone turned to the rubble, where they saw her climbing out of the rubble, her Ranger suit damaged. “The suit absorbed most of the blast. They always said it was highly resistant, but I never knew just how resistant it was.”

“Good to see you’re okay, Commander.”, Yuri said to her. “But what about Pam? Where is she?”

Goodman shook her head. “I’m sorry Yuri, but Dark Soul turned into a monster. I was no match for him. He took her.”

Yuri fumed. “That creep. If I knew how to find him, I’d tear him apart myself.”

“I think I can help you with that.”, Myron said as he brought out the Cosmo Sphere detector. “He took Leo-77 and the Void Sphere. If I just input the basic energy readings for one of them…” He pressed a series of buttons and was greeted by a ping from the machine. “Got it. It’s at a quarry not far from here.”

“And where Leo-77 is, Dark Soul is likely to be as well.”, Cobras repeated.

“We should set off right away.”, Drago stated. “Rangers, move out.”

“Okay.” The Rangers all set off at a fast pace, except for Myron who was stopped by Scales.

“I’ve got something I need your help with.”, Scales said.

* * *

At the quarry, Dark Soul had revived the entirety of the Gingaku members faced by the Rangers, save for Gingaku himself and Cerebron. “All is prepared.”, Dark Soul stated. “Soon, I will be the ultimate power in the universe.”

“Why?”, Pamela asked him, from her restraints. “Why go ahead with this madness? You’re not like this, Greg.”

“‘Greg’ is long gone.”, Dark Soul yelled. “I am now Dark Soul. The Red Ranger said so himself.”

“You see, I don’t think that’s entirely true.”, Pamela stated. “Yuri may not have any memories of you, but I do.” Dark Soul hesitated, surprised to hear that Yuri had lost his memories. “You could’ve killed me yourself, but you didn’t. That proves there’s some part of you that still cares for me.”

“Can we shut her up?”, Kota asked, as he transformed into Diskus. “She’s getting annoying.”

Dark Soul was snapped out of his thoughts. “You know nothing of me. My ascension is still at hand.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Everyone looked up to see the 12 Rangers standing above him on the cliff, all holding their Cosmo Spheres (Yuri was holding his Big Bang Sphere). “But we’re about to put the kibosh on your ambitions.”, Yuri continued.

“You’re too late.”, Dark Soul shouted. “Thanks to the Cosmo Spheres I stole from you, the energy extracted from those Legendary Rangers and these combatants, I will become the ultimate life form.” Energy flowed from the canister into the two Cosmo Spheres, which were held in his hands. Everyone in the quarry, including Pamela, was dragged in by the energy, with only Diskus being able to pull out, albeit reverted to his humanoid form of Kota, who ran out of the scene. “I’m shrouding myself in the ultimate power!” In a flash of purple light, there was now one figure in the quarry. It resembled Yamashi, but now had an elaborate mask that covered his face and circled around his head, also possessing a pair of horns and a golden star in the centre. He also had a large ring on his back, resembling a snake eating its tail. When he spoke, it was with Dark Soul’s voice, amplified and deepened dramatically. “Now, I am Daiyamsashi!”

“So, you’ve got a new look.”, Mila commented. “It’s not a good one on you.”

“I remember Gingaku took on a similar visage.”, Proton stated. “Right before we took him down.”

“Alright.”, Yuri said, pressing the top of his Big Bang Sphere, as the others slid their Cosmo Spheres into position. “It’s Morphing Time!”

Myron, Jiro, Scales, Tarrant, Cobras, Mila, Winda, Slash and Barry inserted their Cosmo Spheres into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They then pulled their triggers.

Drago inserted his Cosmo Sphere into his Dragon Staff. “Charge Up!” He slammed the staff on the ground.

Proton summoned his Galaxy Saber and inserted his Cosmo Sphere. “Set!” He then began charging it. “Rise!” He then pulled the sword out. “Change!”

Finally, Yuri inserted his Big Bang Sphere into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He pressed the top and spun the wheel.

In an instant, all twelve Rangers were Morphed. “Pfft.”, Daiyamashi stated, summoning Gingaku’s swords. “This won’t even be a challenge.” He ran into battle, facing Jiro, Myron, Slash and Tarrant. He took a hit from Jiro’s Cosmo Claw and then delivered a slash to all of them, knocking them away. He then fired a beam at Cobras, Winda, Drago and Scales, who dodged the explosion and fired at him with their weapons. He absorbed the shots and redirected them to the other Rangers, before facing Barry, Mila and Proton. He slashed them away as well.

“It’s me you’re after, Daiyamashi.”, Yuri stated, before delivering a slash with his Cosmo Saber.

“Don’t ignore us.”, Slash said, brandishing his Cosmo Dagger and running towards Daiyamashi, locking blades briefly before slashing him.

“Yuri’s problems are our problems.”, Jiro called out as he leapt forward and delivered another hit with his Cosmo Claw, knocking Daiyamashi back to where Drago and Winda could get a clear shot.

“Yuri’s helped a lot of people as a Ranger, including Winda here.”, Drago stated.

“Including me, the ‘defective android’.”, Winda exclaimed.

“He helped bring me closer to the others.”, Barry stated as he slashed at Daiyamashi with his Cosmonata, before delivering a few thrusts.

Daiyamashi then got hit with Tarrant’s Axe. “Myron, over to you.”, he called out as he threw the enemy over his head.

“Double Sting Break!” Myron hit Daiyamashi with his horn arm.

Cobras then placed his Serpent-06 Sphere on his Cosmo Scythe. “I’ll want my Void Sphere back when I’m done with you.”, he stated.

“You mean when WE’RE done with him.”, Scales called out as he leapt in to the fray with his Cosmo Rifle. The two delivered simultaneous hits to Daiyamashi, causing him to be surrounded by flames.

“I’m in on this too.”, Mila called out as she leapt in with her Cosmo Blade.

“Oh no you don’t.”, Daiyamashi used his swords to try and cut through Mila, only for her to disappear. “What?”

“Never underestimate a ninja.”, Mila stated. “Especially one with a Double-25 Cosmo Sphere.” She appeared behind Daiyamashi and began fighting him with their swords, a fight that Mila won with a well timed hit.

“You’re going down.”, Proton stated as he rapidly slashed at Daiyamashi with his Galaxy Saber, causing him to begin to explode. “Yuri, go for it.”

Yuri leapt up, bringing his Saber down with him. “Leo Lion Slash!” He delivered a series of hits to Daiyamashi, knocking him back and causing him to spark.

However, the Dark-X in his body caused Daiyamashi to rapidly heal his wounds, much to everyone’s shock. “That’s not all I can do fools.”, he growled, sending a pair of slashes towards the Rangers, surrounding them with smoke.

* * *

“Dark Soul’s becomes really strong, maybe even stronger than Gingaku used to be.”, Kota noted. “It’ll be hard for the Rangers to get out of this.”

* * *

The Rangers reeled from the blast on the ground. “He’s strong.”, Proton stated.

“I’m feeling a lot of pain.”, Cobras added.

“But we have to keep going.”, Proton stated. “It’s the only way to defeat him.”

“That’s right.”, Drago replied.

“Let’s do it.”, Scales added. “We’re the last hope of stopping him.”

Daiyamashi laughed. “Your full power is no match for me. I am as strong as Gingaku. No, I am stronger than Gingaku.” He surrounded himself with energy, growing to a giant size that was much bigger than the norm. “Now, face my true power!”

“Let’s go.”, Yuri stated, reverting to his Red Ranger form. “It’s now or never.”

“And never ain’t looking good as an option.”, Jiro responded.

“Let’s do this.”, Proton stepped forward with the All Zords Sphere, which he inserted into his Galaxy Saber. “All Zords, combine!”

The twelve Cosmo Spheres came together using the Lion Zord and the Fire Voyager as a base. “Zodiac Megazord, ready!”

“Let’s finish this.”, Yuri said.

“Right here, right now.”, Proton added.

“Arms ready!”, Slash, Winda, Mila and Myron radioed.

“Legs ready!”, Tarrant, Scales, Jiro and Cobras radioed.

“Upper body ready!”, Drago and Barry radioed.

“All systems are go.”, Yuri stated.

“That won’t help you.”, Daiyamashi’s voice echoed. He surrounded himself with the Dark-X. “You’re no match for my power.” He summoned a ball of energy, firing it at the Zodiac, buffeting it.

“We’re barely holding together.”, Yuri panicked. “Return fire.” He launched a beam of yellow energy back at Daiyamashi, with the two locking with each other, though Daiyamashi’s was more powerful, eventually pushing the Zodiac back.

Everyone was buffeted from inside the Zodiac, but they pressed on. The Zodiac stood its ground as Daiyamashi continued his onslaught. Eventually, the Dark aura surrounding them cracked. “He’s weakening.”, Proton stated. “Nows our chance.”

“Right.”, Yuri replied as he led everyone else in pushing forward. As they did so, the stars themselves that had chosen the Rangers and given their lights to create the Cosmo Spheres glowed, channelling their powers into the Zodiac.

“What’s this?”, Slash asked.

“It looks good.”, Mila replied.

“The stars are with us.”, Cobras realised.

As they continued to glow, Daiyamashi was weakened further. “No, it can’t be.”, he stated, as the Megazord broke free of his blast.

“It’s the Cosmo Spheres.”, Yuri realised. “They can sense the plight we’re in and are giving us their power.”

“Let’s use it.”, Proton urged.

Everyone prepared the final attack. “This is it, people.”, Myron stated. “The end of Gingaku’s last member and by extension, their threat.”

“Our Power is one with the stars themselves.”, Yuri stated, as the symbols on their 12 Cosmo Spheres appeared behind them.

“Cosmic Energy Abreaction!” The Rangers fired their beams at Daiyamashi in the form of their Zords.

“This can’t be.”, Daiyamashi growled. “I’m the ultimate. I can’t lose.” He then exploded, restoring the sky to normal as the Megazord stood tall.

* * *

Pamela fell out and landed on the edge of the quarry, the Leo-77 and Void Spheres next to her.

* * *

On the ground, Daiyamashi lay down as the Rangers approached. The energy that Daiyamashi had absorbed from the Dark-X and Gingaku was released into the sky, dispersing throughout the universe, as he reverted to Yamashi. “The power’s gone.”, Myron noted. “The energy stolen from the Legendary Rangers has returned to the Morphing Grid, while the powers of those Gingaku goons is gone forever.”

* * *

“What?” Kota had a realisation. He tried transforming back into Diskus, but realised he couldn’t. He was now stuck in his human form.

* * *

“Well, what’re you waiting for?”, Yamashi asked Yuri. “Pull your trigger. Finish it.”

“It’s like, you said, Yamashi.”, Yuri stated as he took his Big Bang Sphere out of his Morpher, powering down in the process. “You were my friend.” Everyone else powered down as well. “And while I may not remember our time together, I’m going to try and help you remember our time together.”

* * *

Everyone seemed touched by this choice, even Pamela from the sidelines. “Yuri.”, she said quietly.

* * *

However, Proton ignored this moment, instead pushing through the others. “The Dark-X is mine.”, he said in a monotone.

“I’m sorry?”, Mila said with confusion.

“The Dark-X is mine.”, Proton stressed as he pushed Yuri aside, approaching Yamashi and placing his hand on him.

“Proton, what’re you doing?”, Yuri asked. “Kyle, speak to me.”

Dark-X flowed out of Yamashi, reverting him to his human self. “I have succeeded.”, Proton, who was clearly not himself anymore said with an almost sadistic glee. “Contact has been made!” The other Rangers reacted with horror to this, as purple smoke surrounded the possessed Fire Knight.

As the smoke cleared, Proton was gone. In his place, there was a demonic looking being, with an exposed brain on his head and chest, large demonic wings with red and black patterns on them, wearing a red overcoat. “Gingaku.”, Winda recognised him from her trip to the past on Tempus.

“How nice of you to remember me.”, he commented. “I’ve been reborn in the body of my old enemy.” He then summoned up a ball of energy. “But in order to be the ultimate life form, I need to absorb your energy as well.” He then launched the ball at the other Rangers.

“Oh no you don’t.”, Drago exclaimed as he moved to block the ball. “Don’t worry about me.”, he called to the others. “Just get out of here. Now!” He was then absorbed by the ball, which retreated into Gingaku’s new body.

“He was delicious.”, Gingaku commented. “And all of you are next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on the final episode of Kyuranger, though the ending is from episode 46. 
> 
> Originally, I intended for a Gaku Zone to be established in Daiyamashi’s battle and remain up to indicate that there was still some threat left, but I felt it wasn’t properly established that such a rule existed. 
> 
> I’ll admit that Kota wasn’t a planned part of the finale, but I felt that since I’d set up his parallels with Gregory, I thought “why not?” 
> 
> The reason I turned Don Armage’s forms into separate characters was inspired by a friend on Twitter who lamented that Armage’s later designs lacked his original look’s brain motif.


	37. Gingaku Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gingaku has returned. With 5 of their number deceased at his hands, the Rangers must now figure out his plan and stop it from coming to pass.

**_The Shooting Star Ship, A Few Days Ago._ **

_Yuri and Proton were looking out of the window, at the vastness of the void. “It really is something, isn’t it?”, Proton asked._

_“Yeah, it gets better every time I look at it.”, Yuri answered. “What was it like the first time you went out? I don’t exactly remember my first time.”_

_“If I’m honest, it was incredibly daunting.”, was Proton’s response. “Knowing that after years of thinking that Earth was big enough on its own, I realised that it’s actually incredibly small.”_

_“I probably felt the same way, Proton.”, Yuri replied. “Even now, we’ve barely scratched the surface of space as Power Rangers. I’ve heard a lot of things about other planets in places like the Eagle Galaxy or the Wolf Zone, but I’ve not been able to actually see them.”_

_Proton put his hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “Yuri, you don’t have to keep calling me ‘Proton’. In fact, I’d prefer it if someone treated me as average human Kyle Jennings, rather than a galactic warrior named for his fuel engine.”_

_“You got it, Kyle.”, Yuri assured him. “After all, we have no idea how long you’ll be around for.”_

* * *

** A quarry near Corona City, Now. **

The Rangers and others in the site could not believe their eyes. Proton had transformed into Gingaku and absorbed Commander Drago using the Dark-X. “How is this possible?”, Mila asked. “You said you’d destroyed Gingaku back on Planet Black.”

“His current body, yes,”, Cobras replied. “But that body was one he had taken over by implanting part of his DNA inside.”

“And before the fight, he stabbed Proton hard enough to pierce the skin.”, Myron added. “Presumably planting part of his claw in their in the process.”

“You catch on fast.”, Gingaku commented. As with his previous body, he retained the original voice of the owner, but it had taken on a different tone. He then switched to his natural voice, which was deeper and more distorted. “ ** _Or would you prefer I sound like this?”_**

“Why you?”, Jiro growled as he charged in, swiping at Gingaku. “What did you do to Drago?”

“ ** _I made him a part of me.”_** , Gingaku declared. “ ** _Just as I’ll do to you and the others.”_** He then grabbed onto Jiro, surrounding him with the same purple energy and absorbing him into himself. “ ** _Three down, nine to go.”_**

“Jiro!”, Slash cried out.

“Three is all you’re getting.”, Tarrant declared, charging in to deliver several hits to Gingaku. After a minute of punching his opponent, he knocked him down. “Ha, not so tough now, aren’t we?”

“Stop, Tarrant.”, Proton’s voice came out of Gingaku. “You’re hurting me. And the others as well.”

“I’m sorry.”, Tarrant said nervously, stopping his assault.

“Don’t, it’s a trick.”, Barry called out.

But it was too late. Gingaku grabbed onto Tarrant’s arm as he got close. “ ** _Fool!_** ”, he stated as he threw his opponent against the cliff face. “ ** _I can’t absorb non-organics into my being. But I can still take your power._** ” He blasted Tarrant once more, blowing his chest plate to pieces.

“I’m sorry.”, Tarrant got out before he shut down. His Bull-05 Sphere fell off his body, with Gingaku summoning it to his hand and absorbing it.

“Wow, Gingaku’s really upped his power level.”, Kota commented.

“Hopefully, the Rangers can still beat him.”, Pamela added.

“ ** _It’s been fun stretching my new powers.”_** , Gingaku declared. “ ** _But now I’m going to ensure you can no longer threaten my ambitions._** ” He summoned up a ball of energy and launched it at the Rangers.

“Get out of here.”, Scales called out as he ran forward to take the hit. “Just go, now.”

“Don’t risk yourself so foolishly.”, Winda called out as she ran to join him in taking the blast.

“Don’t!”, Cobras called out as Myron dragged him away. “Nooo!”

But it was fruitless, with the two robots being blown backwards by the hit, leaving them non-functioning. Their Cosmo Spheres floated off their bodies and into Gingaku’s grasp, where their physical forms were dispersed so he could absorb their energies. “That’s it.”, Yuri said as he picked up the Leo-77 Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher and pushing it back twice. “Let’s see how you like this.” He fired a large amount of energy at Gingaku, causing him to recoil. “Get out of my friend. Now!”

“ ** _Alright, I’ll get out of your friend Proton._** ”, Gingaku replied, before turning into black smoke, which cleared to reveal Proton, unscathed apart from some dirt. As he collapsed, the smoke that Gingaku now consisted of floated over to Pamela, entering her body through her mouth. “But your friend Pamela is a whole different story.” After Pamela convulsed for a few minutes, she stood still, her eyes glowing black. “ ** _Not the best choice. But for now, it’ll do._** ”

Dark Soul finally recovered from his defeat. “Master.…”, he managed to blurt out.

“ ** _And as for you, I suppose you deserve to watch as I ascend to the ultimate._** ” Gingaku went over to his subordinate and grabbed him, before teleporting away.

“Lord Gingaku, Wait!”, Kota cried out as he ran into the middle of the quarry, only to be met with 6 fully conscious and angry Rangers. “Uh, hi?”, he said sheepishly.

Mila wasted no time in punching Kota out cold. “So what happened?”, Proton asked as he regained his bearings. “What did Gingaku do to the others?”

“He destroyed them.”, Yuri answered him. “All of them. If only we knew where he’d gone and what he was up to.”

“Well don’t look at me.”, Proton said in response. “I barely remember anything from when he was controlling me.”

“Looks like we’ll have to wait for Sleeping Beauty here to wake up.”, Myron said, indicating Kota. “Until then, all we can do is wait.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

In the Annihilation Gear, Gingaku, still within the body of Pamela, led Dark Soul into a large room, that was an identical copy of the throne room in the fortress on Planet Black. “I’m confused.”, Dark Soul said. “How were you able to return in the body of the Fire Knight? And why is there a room like this in the middle of an Annihilation Gear?”

Gingaku laughed at this. “ ** _There’s no such thing as an ‘Annihilation Gear’. Even Dr. Cerebron realised such an idea was infeasible long ago. This is a new stronghold to recommence my conquest of the universe, one I shall call ‘Clockwork Palace’.”_**

“So Cerebron was building this place for you?”, Dark Soul questioned, before coming to a realisation. “He knew you’d come back.”

“ ** _You catch on fast_**.”, Gingaku said mockingly. “ ** _Especially for one who was nothing more than a patsy for my rise to true power. Perhaps you’d care to hear my full story.”_**

* * *

**The Rangers’ Campsite.**

Kota came to, to see the seven human Rangers in front of him. “Oh this is good.”, he said smugly. “I’ll defeat all of you, take your Cosmo Spheres to Gingaku and be welcomed back like a hero.” He tried lunging forward, only to find himself tied to a pole.

“You didn’t think we’d take chances with you, did you?”, Barry asked.

“You’ve already double-crossed us before.”, Slash pointed out. “So this time, we’re going to make sure you tell us everything we want to know, in conditions over which you have no control.”

“Very well then.”, Kota replied. “You’re due to lose anyway. Fire away with your questions.”

“What’s Gingaku been up to all this time?”, Myron asked. “He wiped the floor with us easily back there, but went down too easily back on Planet Black.”

“Plus there’s the whole thing with Coiloga taking Yuri’s friend apparently to torment him.”, Mila added. “How would Coiloga have known that Yuri would encounter his friend again, as a Power Ranger no less?”

“Well for starters, I think I’ll discuss why Gingaku had the Morph-X extracted from those Legendary Rangers.”, Kota began.

* * *

_**6 Years Ago, Planet Black.** _

_Gingaku and Cerebron stole some Morph-X from a team of Rangers they defeated as a dry run of their forces’ strength, converting it into a substance known as Dark-X, which they could manipulate. The intention was that with the power of the Morphin’ Grid bent to his will, Gingaku could become the ultimate life form. There was however, a slight catch.”_

_“I don’t know how to tell you this, sire.”, Cerebron stuttered. “But from all experiments, your DNA rejected the Dark-X during the experiments. If you try to assimilate that power, it could destroy your body.”_

_“No matter.”, Gingaku said calmly. “Test it with all of the warriors in our forces. I shall merely make the one that possesses the strongest compatibility my next host.”_

_But despite their efforts, none of the warriors within Gingaku possessed such a compatibility. It was then that Coiloga made a suggestion. “The Morph-X is normally used to empower Power Rangers.”, he pointed out._

_“Yeah.”, Tricerodo retorted. “So?”_

_“Legend says that when a threat great enough to subjugate the entire universe emerges, twelve with a large amount of Cosmic Energy and nothing but faith and destiny to bring them together, shall band together to retake the universe. Does that sound like anything?”_

_“More Power Rangers.”, Dr. Cerebron answered him._

_“Correct. So all we need do is try and detect one with a large amount of Cosmic Energy and take them into our organisation.”, Coiloga explained._

_“Then I place you in charge of this task.”, Gingaku informed his subordinate. “While our takeover of the universe is underway, you will go out and search for one of these twelve Rangers.”_

_“By your command.”, Coiloga said, saluting._

* * *

(Gingaku was telling the same story to Gregory) **_So when the Great Subjugation went into action, Coiloga searched for a strong source of Cosmic Energy, which led him to your shuttle. When your friend abandoned ship and was rescued by Astral Leo, we assumed we’d missed our chance. But then we analysed you and found that your own Cosmic Energy level was also impressive. And we took your confusion and played it to our advantage, instilling a blind loyalty within you. When your friend resurfaced, I made sure to stoke the flames of your rivalry, even allowing you more freedom so that you would go into battles with your rival, battles that you would soon enough begin to lose as he became stronger. Then we put you into a situation where a confrontation was inevitable._**

* * *

**_A Few Weeks Ago._ **

_“Glad to see you’re back up and running, Tricerodo.”, Gingaku said._

_“No thanks to Coiloga.”, Tricerodo said bitterly. “But even without his interference, I discovered that an Anima Core exists on Earth, in the hands of the Earth Resistance.”_

_“I have plans concerning Coiloga.”, Gingaku informed her. “He has requested the Neo-Bullroid be dressed like the original that became a Ranger and sent to his location. I will put Dark Soul on the task as part of the plan. And as for the Anima Core.” He brought up a communication screen, featuring the likeness of Kabujin. “We have located an artefact that may be of use to you. An artefact that can provide you with the help you need in setting up your television show.”_

_“_ Ah yes, my old comrade Ryjack’s reanimiser. _”, Kabujin realised. “_ What civilised cesspool has it ended up on? _”_

_“Planet Earth.”, Gingaku told him “In the possession of the Earth Resistance Force.” He then ended the call and turned back to Tricerodo. “You have your mission on A-60. Transform into the Horusian known as Corvelia and lure the Rangers into our trap.”_

_“It will be done, my Lord.”, Tricerodo said as she used her DNA cloak to transform into Corvelia, before teleporting to the planet, as Dark Soul entered._

* * *

**_Following you reassignment, I merely had to wait for the Red Ranger to beat you badly with his new Big Bang powers. After which you’d request more power, which I’d use to infuse you with the weapons and abilities of all our warriors. When the Rangers invaded Planet Black, I planted part of myself inside the Fire Knight and allowed for myself to be defeated._ **

* * *

(Elsewhere, Kota carried on with his explanation) _So when Kabujin began his broadcast, Dark Soul was able to locate the Anima Core and assimilate it into himself. When he travelled to Earth, Dr. Cerebron began creating a fortress with a built-in Dark-X production machine. He had previously left a doctored blueprint that claimed it was a doomsday device for your Orange friend to find. So you would then remove the Dark-X from the Palace and attempt to secure it. But in doing so, you’d be handing it right over to Dark Soul, who would use it to combine with the other warriors of Gingaku into a powerful being. But then you Rangers would defeat him in a fight, weakening him significantly. And in that moment, Gingaku would awaken and take the Dark-X energy and your Cosmo Spheres for himself._

* * *

** Clockwork Palace, Now. **

“So after all this time, I meant nothing to you?”, Dark Soul asked. “Just a pawn in your elaborate game of chess.”

“ ** _Basically_**.”, Gingaku said bluntly. “ ** _I no longer need you as a servant, since the Anima Core and the Dark-X can easily bring forth all the forces I need.”_**

He then conjured up a Terrovore tendril, throwing it in front of him and blasting it with two beams of energy, which caused it to take shape. The result resembled a Terrorvore, but had a blue and green colouration, with red lines on its chest. “I’m way stronger than a normal Terrovore.”, the creature said. “I’m Hypervore.”

“ ** _I’ll take this fool to the detention area._** ”, said Gingaku. “ ** _You go and hunt down the Power Rangers._** ” He took Dark Soul by the shoulder and led him out of the room.

“As you command, Master.”, the Hypervore bowed before burrowing away.

* * *

**The Rangers’ Camp.**

“So now Gingaku has everything he needs to retake the universe.”, Proton surmised. “This time for good.”

“We have to stop him.”, Yuri emphasised. “All eight of us.”

Kota seemed sceptical. “Do you really think I’ll help you take down my own Lord? You must be mad.”

“Do you really think that Gingaku even cares about you?”, Slash asked. “Especially since you’ve lost your main useful skill?”

Kota thought for a moment, then had a realisation. “Good point. I might as well help you out then, if only to ensure my own survival.”

“Well for now, we get some rest.”, Yuri stated. “Tomorrow, we march on Gingaku’s palace and take him down once and for all.”

* * *

**Clockwork Palace.**

Gingaku led Dark Soul to the cells, pushing him into one of them, before entering as well, locking the door and throwing the key against the door. “Not very smart.”, Dark Soul commented. “Now we’re both trapped in here.”

“ ** _Once more, your understanding of the truth is woefully limited._** ” Gingaku emerged from Pamela in his gaseous form, departing the cell as Pamela returned to normal.

“Where am I?”, she asked.

* * *

Back with the Rangers, it was now morning, with their 8-man party ready to take on their enemy and put a stop to him once and for all. “Last chance.”, Yuri told everyone. “This is your last chance to turn back and change our minds about this.”

“None of us are turning back now.”, Mila assured him.

“We’ve all come too far to stop here.”, Myron continued.

“We’ve lost too much.”, Cobras added.

“Friends, homes, families.”, Slash said.

“We’re with you until the end, Yuri.”, Barry concluded.

“That’s what we want to hear.”, Proton said with a smile.

“Yeah, I suppose I should subscribe to your sentimental little speech.”, Kota said with some reluctance. “Now can we get going before something happens to stop us from proceeding?” As if on cue, the ground began to shake, with the seven Rangers being sucked into a sinkhole, leaving Kota by himself. “Well, I guess it’s up to me to get in and stop the evil plan.”, he said as he moved on by himself.

* * *

Within an underground tunnel, the Rangers regained their bearings. “What is this place?”, Mila asked. “Did anyone else know there was a tunnel here?”

“There wasn’t.”, Slash answered her. “I’ve been through one of these before.”

“As have I.”, Cobras responded. “And only one thing could possibly create a tunnel this fast.”

“Exactly.”, Myron stated. “A Terrorvore.”

“Close, but no sunflower seed.” The attacker appeared in front of them. “I’m a Hypervore, a much stronger being than those Terrorvores and Robovores you’ve faced before.”, he growled.

“You’re about as ugly as them.”, Yuri stated as he took out his Cosmo Sphere. “Are you guys ready?”

“It’s Morphing Time!”, came everyone’s answer as they also pulled out their Cosmo Spheres. All then inserted them into their Morphers. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!/Rise, Change!”

The seven were quickly morphed, with Slash taking out another Cosmo Sphere. “I think I’ll use a little extra power this time.” He inserted the Sphere into his Morpher, pushing it backwards. “Pegasus-33 Cosmo Sphere, Plus Up!” He summoned the Pegasus Armour onto himself. “You ready for this, old man?”

“I was made ready.”, Pegasus replied as he and his host leapt forward, pushing Hypervore backwards.

“Hey, save some for us.”, Cobras said as he ran forward and delivered a few slashes to Hypervore with his Cosmo Scythe. The other Rangers then joined in, hitting the enemy with all their weapons at once.

Or the would do, if not for one problem. “It’s too cramped in here.”, Proton called out. “We’re stuck.”

“Don’t worry.”, Hypervore said mockingly. “I’ll help you all out.” He then pushed Slash back into the other 6, before pushing all of the Rangers above ground, into an abandoned gravel pit, with Mila, Slash and Barry caught in its grip. “I got you now, power punks.”, he declared to the downed Rangers, before throwing their comrades down, causing an explosion.

“I can see why it’s ‘hyper’”, Slash said as everyone recovered.

“Now you understand my threat.”, Hypervore bragged. “I’m going to make sure you never reach Gingaku alive.”

“Good luck with that.”, Mila shouted defiantly.

“Thanks.”, Hypervore responded as he began beating on the seven Rangers, easily knocking them back with his tendrils.

Then Proton ran in to get knocked back. “We need to end this quickly.”, he urged to the others. He got up to rejoin the battle, only to find the pain in his chest returning. “No, how can this -?”, he managed to get out before Hypervore finished with Yuri and Cobras and turned its attention to him, knocking him into a structure with enough force to knock him out of his Morph.

“Kyle!”, Yuri called out as he ran forward with his Cosmo Saber, using it to grapple with Hypervore, along with the others. Yet all continued to be knocked back.

* * *

“Yes, carry on the fight, Rangers.”, Gingaku’s voice said as his gaseous being floated above them. “It’ll give me enough time to claim my prize.”

* * *

Hypervore then knocked Slash backwards again. “He seems to be focusing on me.”, he pointed out.

Pegasus then bonked him on the head from below. “Maybe it’s because we’ve got the strongest form among us all.”

“That’s it.”, Yuri realised as the other 5 all ran in. “Let’s power up and beat this thing.” He pulled out his Big Bang Sphere.

“Let’s do it.”, Myron said as he pulled out his Unicorn-27 Sphere.

“All together.”, Mila added as she pulled out the Sun/Moon Dual Sphere.

“United as one.”, Cobras continued as he pulled out his Void Sphere.

“And finish this thing.”, Barry concluded, pulling out his Bear-22 Sphere.

All then inserted their respective power-up Spheres into their Morphers, going through the motions to activate them. Yuri went first. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!”

Next was Myron. “Plus Up!”

Then came Cobras. “Dark Energy, Unleash!”

Mila used the “Sun” end of the Dual Sphere. “Hyper Plus Up!”

Barry was the last, entering his Jumbo mode. “Plus Up!”

The 6 then proceeded to do a roll-call. “The Warrior of Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

“Master of the two points, Orange Ranger: Double Sting Form!”

“Envoy of the Dark, Silver Ranger: Void Mode!”

“Power of the Sun, Solar Green Ranger!”

“Flying Blade of the Pegasus, Yellow Pegasus Ranger!”

“Crush of the Mother Bear, Sky Ranger: Jumbo Mode!”

“Bringing the Universe together, Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders.”

“I’m not scared of a few costume changes.”, Hypervore bragged.

“You should be.”, Yuri said as Barry ran forward.

Barry then began to pound and beat up the Hypervore using his size to his advantage. “Take that. And that. And that. And that.”, the giant-sized Ranger said as he grabbed a hold of Hypervore, who resisted by grabbing onto the ground.

“Let’s cut him down to size.”, Cobras said, placing his Void Sphere on his Cosmo Scythe and delivering a slash that cut the creature’s tendrils. This sent the creature flying when Barry let go.

“Let’s do this for real, old man.”, Slash said to Pegasus.

“If you say so.”, Pegasus replied as he and Slash jumped into the air, slashing at the Hypervore multiple times before he could hit the ground. “Combined Energy Crash!”

* * *

Myron then began to beat up the Hypervore with his horn arm, as Proton managed to climb out of the quarry. There, he found himself face to face with Kota. “What are you doing up here?”, the latter asked. “The other Rangers might need your help.”

“My link with Firebird-12… its broken.”, Proton told him. “Gingaku severed it.”

“No way.”, Kota said with shock. “Can he do that?”

“Apparently, he can.”, was Proton’s answer. He then gave Kota the Firebird-12 Sphere. “But he can’t take the power for himself if he doesn’t have the actual Sphere. I need you to keep it safe.”

“Me?”, Kota asked. “But why-?”

“Don’t ask questions!!”, Proton said with anger. As if on cue, black gas surrounded him. “See? Gingaku’s going to take over my body again. You need to get that thing out of here. Just go!”, he yelled.

Kota didn’t think twice before continuing to run on to Clockwork Palace with his new charge.

* * *

Just as Myron had finished beating down Hypervore with his horn arm, Mila stepped up to the plate. “Take this.”, she cried out, firing a ball of fire at the enemy.

However, Hypervore dodged this and continued to attack. “What was that meant to do?”, he asked. “I’m a subterranean creature.”

“Of course, you’re used to the heat.”, Mila realised. “Let’s change things up.” She flipped the Dual Sphere the other way round. “Hyper Plus Up Rotation!” She transformed again, this time replacing the Sun on her helmet with a Moon. “Power of the Moon, Lunar Green Ranger!”, she said in a more solemn voice.

“Uh-oh.”, Hypervore realised, vague memories of cold nights appearing in his race memory. He charged forward to attack, but ended up missing all of his hits.

Mila then hit him lightly, before grabbing onto one of his heads. “Nights can be very cold.”, she said before punching him backwards and shooting him with moon-blasts. “Now Yuri, it’s your turn.”

“Thank you.”, Yuri said as he summoned Jiro’s Cosmo Claw, Scales’ Cosmo Rifle, Tarrant’s Cosmo Axe, Winda’s Cosmo Blaster and Drago’s Dragon Staff to launch several attacks on the enemy. “Time to finish him off.”, he said as the others gathered.

“Alright.”, the others responded, as everyone prepared their final attacks, with Cobras swapping out his Void Sphere for his Black Hole Sphere. All then launched their attacks.

“Big Bang Energy Blast!”

“Double Sting Strike!”

“Black Hole Final Attack!”

“Eclipse Attack: Lunar Mix!”

“Pegasus Energy Blast!”

“Jumbo Crash!”

The 6 attacks all hit Hypervore, causing him to explode. Everyone but Slash and Mila then reverted to their normal forms as Hypervore revived as a giant. “I’ll destroy you, Cosmic Suckers.”, he bellowed.

“New look, same old tricks.”, Yuri stated as he pulled out the Leo-77 Sphere. “Let’s go, Astral Leo.” He inserted the Sphere into his Morpher and summoned his benefactor.

“ ** _Okay, let’s put an end to Gingaku for good_**.”, Astral Leo declared.

He quickly combined with Yellow as the right arm, Silver as the left arm, Green as the right leg and Orange as the left leg. “Astral Leo Megazord, ready!”

“Take this.”, Hypervore declared as he leapt into the air and came crashing down on Astral Leo, buffeting him significantly. On the ground, Proton woke up, his eyes glowing black.

“Naughty boy.”, Mila said as if to tease Hypervore. “Time to say bye-bye.” She then kicked him off of Astral Leo with her leg, knocking the creature back.

“Why you!”, the Hypervore growled as it charged again.

This time, Astral Leo had the advantage, barely feeling the few hits that were dealt to it. “We’re not gonna let you win.”, Yuri declared. “Time to end this.”

“ ** _Let’s switch._** ”, Astral Leo declared as he swapped out the Serpent Arm for the Bear Arm.

“Let’s see what a small package can bring.”, Barry stated as he detached his module, using it to make the Hypervore dizzy before striking it.”

“Ah that smarts.”, Hypervore snarled as he began to crackle with energy and the module burst out of his back to rejoin the main body.

“Let’s show him another combo.”, Pegasus suggested to Slash.

“Yeah, some real teamwork.”, Slash responded. “Take this. Pegasus Projection!”

Astral Leo fired a beam of energy from his cannon. “ ** _Taste my full power!_** ”, he declared as the beam coalesced into the image of a pair of wings that struck the Hypervore.

“I ended up just like the others after all.”, the Hypervore cried out as it exploded.

“This Space is ours.”, Yuri stated.

But then Astral Leo was blown backwards by a series of beams fired from the ground, that buffeted everyone. “ ** _I’m going down.”_** , he cried as he fell backwards exploding.

* * *

The Rangers all landed on the ground, reverting to normal. Astral Leo landed nearby, dispersing into energy. Their Cosmo Spheres were then drained of their energy, which flowed into a figure standing in front of them. “Proton.”, Myron said with some disbelief, before having a realisation. “No, Gingaku. You’ve taken over him.”

“Very astute of you.”, Gingaku said with Proton’s voice. “Yes, I am once more in control of this form. And thanks to my distraction, I’ve managed to finally absorb the powers of Astral Leo himself, along with 11 of your precious Cosmo Spheres. “Not enough to be all-powerful, but enough for me to create this.” He conjured up a copy of Yuri’s Big Bang Sphere, only with the Red parts coloured black and the blue parts coloured purple. Instead of the number “315”, it bore the Gingaku crest. “And I’m sure Cobras will recognise this.” He summoned a familiar object onto his arm.

“The Gingaku Morpher!”, Cobras said with shock.

“Exactly.”, Gingaku gloated as he inserted his Sphere into his Morpher. “I can now access the same power you Rangers have. What’s that phrase again? Ah yes, Cosmic Energy Unleash.” He pressed the top of the Sphere, before spinning the wheel, morphing into something else. It resembled Yuri’s Big Bang Ranger form, but had a black collar, helmet, gloves and boots, with a silver under suit and a red dot in the centre of his emblem. “ ** _Behold, my ultimate evolution!_** ”, Gingaku stated, now in his normal voice.

It was then that Yuri regained consciousness. “What happened?”, he asked. “Where am I?” He then turned to each of the others assembled there. “Who are you?”

“Yuri, it’s us.”, Myron urged him, showing off his stinger tail. “Don’t you remember?”

“I’m sure I’d remember a freak like you.”, was Yuri’s answer.

“ ** _Now, I’ll show you a taste of the combined powers of the Cosmo Spheres, the Dark-X and the Anima Core._** ”, Gingaku stated, pressing his button, before spinning the wheel and firing three shots to his left. They formed into the shapes of Katseayor, Tricerodo and Coiloga, but all three were different. Katseayor now possessed two hands instead of his ball and chain, Tricerodo had a longer dress and a shorter staff while Coiloga had a cybernetic arm instead of his claw. Finally, all three lacked their capes.

“What the hell are those things?”, Yuri said with fear.

“You don’t know me?”, Coiloga asked sarcastically as he brought up his sword. “Well let me remind you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Special thanks to Karn Does Stuff on YouTube for some inspiration (by which I mean I cribbed some dialogue where appropriate) https://youtu.be/rIF5JH3homs)
> 
> This chapter is based on episode 44 of Kyuranger, which is why I turned to the above video for inspiration, since it uses the same footage. 
> 
> Killing off the non-human members was a decision I decided I could get away with since killing non-human characters isn’t something the censors would argue with. The exact execution and setup for the scene is taken from Ultra Zero Fight. 
> 
> I’ll admit the whole explanation for why Gingaku corrupted Gregory is something I pulled out of nowhere (as is how Kota was in on the plan) and wasn’t part of my plan from the start, but it does help with my real plan for next chapter. 
> 
> Gingaku’s Ranger form is taken from Kyuranger”s final live show, where Don Armage possesses Lucky and turns into Dark Shishi Red Orion. Though using the Dark Seiza Blaster was my own touch.


	38. Triumphant.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gingaku has captured 11 Cosmo Spheres, the Rangers have been depowered, Yuri has lost his memory and the 3 Victorious Generals have returned at a greater power level. All hope rests on Kota and the Firebird-12 Sphere. But then, several mysterious figures appear.

_In the last instalment of Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders, Gingaku’s plans to revive himself as the ultimate life form succeeded. Possessing the body of Proton, he then absorbed the powers of the other 11 Rangers, making Jiro and Drago a part of his being while also destroying the three robotic members. Worse, he has used his new power to revive his warriors Katseayor, Tricerodo and Coiloga, while Yuri has forgotten everyone in the scene. Now, the only hope of stopping Gingaku’s rising to power again is Kota, who is travelling to Clockwork Palace with the Firebird-12 Cosmo Sphere._

* * *

**Just Outside Clockwork Palace, Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Kota ran to a halt, when he saw the large structure in front of him. “This must be the place.”, he said to himself. “Now I need to find my way inside and get Dark Soul out of there. If only there was an obvious door.”

As if on cue, one of the walls opened a small hatch, from which several figures emerged. Kota recognised them as Neo-Bullroid robots, presumably a production line Dr. Cerebron had installed in the structure. One of them turned to him, much to his concern. {{Minimal threat level detected. Identity confirmed: Diskus, Planetary Controller of Nilaos. Have a nice day}}

Kota breathed a sigh of relief. “Good work, drone.”, he replied nervously, deciding to go with the ruse. “Can you point me in the direction of an entrance to the fortress, followed by a map to the detention areas?”

{{Request input accepted. Now complying.}} The robot printed a map from its mouth, giving it to “Diskus” before carrying on with the others.

“Well that was a lucky break.”, Kota thought as he made for the point marked on his map.

* * *

**The Abandoned Gravel Pit.**

The 6 remaining Rangers were facing down Gingaku and his three Generals. _**“**_ ** _Without your powers, none of you are worth my time.”,_ **Gingaku stated. **“ _Take care of them.”_**

“As you wish.”, the three Generals said in unison.

“Look, I’m not involved in any of this.”, Yuri blurted out, still scared for his life. “I’ll just get out of here.” He then turned and ran out of the pit, making for the city.

“What’s wrong with Yuri?”, Mila asked. “He’s never been like this in the time we’ve known him.”

Myron had a realisation. “That’s it. Remember what Yuri told us about Astral Leo having wiped his memories of everything prior to waking up on Tategami?”

“Yeah.”, Barry said in response. “But what does that have to do with it?”

“ ** _I absorbed Astral Leo._** ”, Gingaku answered him. “ ** _And since he’s gone from the mind of your friend, so are all the memories he made while under that possession. He’s reverted to his previous state.”_**

“Which will make killing him, while he’s still the same coward who abandoned his friend in that shuttle, all the more satisfying.”, Coiloga added, while laughing sadistically. “But I might want some extra power to get the job done.”

“ ** _Very well then._** ” Gingaku touched his subordinate’s shoulder, causing a large astral image of the Eagle-08 Sphere to transfer from the former to the latter. “ ** _I grant you the enhanced speed necessary to hunt down and eliminate your target, like the noble bird of prey.”_**

“Thank you.”, Coiloga then zoomed away at high speed.

“I hope you’re not playing favourites, my Lord.”, Tricerodo said, with some annoyance that Coiloga had received his own Cosmo Sphere.

“ ** _Of course not.”_** Gingaku then touched both of his other two subordinates, giving Tricerodo the Swordfish-09 Sphere and Katseayor the Bull-05 Sphere. “ ** _Now, use these powers to destroy the former Rangers._** ” He then floated up to the top of the pit, looking down.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”, Katseayor stated as he engaged Myron and Barry, using his new strength to deliver powerful punches.

“Tricerodo.”, Cobras yelled as he engaged the eponymous General. “I’ve got a score to settle with you.”

Slash joined in. “Leave some of her for me. I want my Cosmo Sphere back.” He began punching at Tricerodo.

“Just try it boys.”, Tricerodo gloated as she used her new abilities to knock the two back with some powerful slashes. “Face it, neither of you can match me in a sword fight.”

“But I can.” Mila leapt towards Tricerodo and began slashing at her with her Blade. “My weapon may have lost the power it gave me, but it’s still a good weapon.” She then locked weapons with her opponent, as they began parrying back and forth.

From above, Gingaku looked down on the fighting. “ ** _Struggle all you wish, Rangers._** ”, he gloated. “ ** _But right now, nothing in the universe can threaten my power.”_**

* * *

**Inside Gingaku’s Body.**

“Jiro. Jiro, wake up.” Jiro woke up to see Drago standing over him. “Good, you’re able to wake up now too.”

“I guess.”, Jiro replied with some confusion. “Last thing I remember is being pulled into Gingaku. What’s caused us to regain consciousness?”

“He absorbed the Cosmo Spheres of the others.”, Drago answered him. “They seem to have provided more energy to ours in order to revive us within him. Do you know what this means?”

“That we can work on removing them from within him?”, Jiro suggested.

“Well that’s one thing.”, Drago said. “Might as well try it.”

* * *

**Clockwork Palace.**

In the detention cells, Pamela was shaking the bars. “It’s no good.”, she said. “I’ve been over every inch of this cell and found no way out. What’re we going to do?”

“Why bother doing anything?”, Gregory responded solemnly. “Nothings going to be able to stop the end of the universe’s freedom. So we might as well sit back and watch.”

“I can’t believe you.”, Pamela said angrily. “You find out you were nothing but a pawn the whole time and you react by sulking. Where’s your desire for revenge?”

“Oh I want revenge all right.”, Gregory assured her. “But with Gingaku likely having stolen the powers from all of the Rangers by now, what chance do I have? He’d wipe the floor with me.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” Both turned to see Kota running up to them. “Gingaku didn’t get all of the Cosmo Spheres.” He held up Firebird-12. “And he didn’t do much to secure you either.” He then opened the door to the cell by picking up the discarded key.

“Why are you helping us?”, Pamela asked. “Aren’t you another one of Gingaku’s cronies?”

Kota shook his head. “Not anymore.”, he assured her. “He doesn’t care about me anymore than he cared about Gregory here. So I decided to help the Rangers.”

Gregory stood up. “So what if we have one of the 12 Cosmo Spheres? None of us can use them. They only work for someone chosen by the Spheres themselves.” He took the Sphere into his hand.

Then, the Sphere began to glow, as if reacting. “Of course.”, Kota realised. “Proton’s link with Firebird-12 was severed, so it can take on a new host now. And Gingaku chose you out of everyone in the universe because you could’ve been one of the 12.”

Gregory was surprised. “You mean… I’ve been chosen to become a Ranger?”

Pamela had a smile on her face. “You know what that means? We still have a fighting chance of beating Gingaku.”

“Well what’re we waiting for?”, Gregory asked as he used the Sphere to summon a Cosmo Morpher. “No, I think there’s only one suitable shape for this.” He reshaped the Morpher into a replica of the Galaxy Saber, before inserting the Cosmo Sphere into it and gripping the handle. “As they say, Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” He was surrounded with a flash of red energy.

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Elsewhere, Yuri was still stumbling his way through the streets. “I don’t know if I escaped that guy.”, he thought to himself. “Heck, I don’t even know that guy. Why’s he after me so intensely?” He then saw a discarded newspaper lying nearby. He picked it up and saw the date. “2027? How did I lose 5 years?”

It was then that Coiloga appeared in front of him. “Normally, it would’ve taken hours to find you. But with my new abilities and your relative cowardice, it only took me a matter of minutes.”

“Look, I don’t know what you want with me.”, Yuri wheezed out. He stepped backwards, causing his Big Bang Sphere (not that he knew what it was) to fall out of his pocket. “How’d that get in there?”, he asked.

“I see you’ve still got your ultimate power at your disposal.”, Coiloga noted as he kicked Yuri down. “I’ll have to make sure I secure it.”

* * *

**The Abandoned Gravel Pit.**

Gingaku continued to look on as the fight continued. Myron and Barry were still trying to land hits on Katseayor, only to be pushed back, while Mila and her group were still having trouble with Tricerodo’s new ability. “ ** _Struggle all you wish, Rangers. But know that all you do will only buy me time to unleash my real plan.”_** Suddenly, a fleet of Dark Gears appeared, landing and transforming into Gearoids, much to everyone’s shock. “ ** _And that’s not all._** ” An army of Detainers and Commanagas were spawned, with the Neo-Bullroid forces appearing to join them.

“All this was just a distraction.”, Myron realised as he blocked another punch using his stinger. “And since we’ve lost our powers, we can’t deal with it.”

“ ** _Accept your fate._** ”, Gingaku growled. “ ** _Nothing you do can inconvenience me. Nothi-._** ” He was then hit by a shot from behind. “Who dares?”

Everyone turned around to see that the shooter was Scales, holding his Cosmo Rifle. “Bet you didn’t expect me to show up?”, he said.

“ ** _You? But how -?_** ”, Gingaku asked, only to see his army on the ground being decimated. “ ** _What’s happening?”_**

“That would be me.” Another familiar face plate emerged from the defeated mooks. It was Tarrant. “Surprise.” He then began fighting off the Neo-Bullroid army.

“You’re both alive?”, Cobras said with shock. “But how?”

“More to the point, where’s Winda?”, Mila asked.

“Don’t worry.”, Scales assured them. “She’s on the case.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Coiloga continued his advance on Yuri. “It’s fitting isn’t it. Our first encounter had me deprive you of your memories and now I’m facing you for the last time after you get them back.”, Coiloga gloated. “It’s a pity you humans fall so easily, otherwise I might have a sense of satisfaction.”

“Don’t write Yuri off just yet.” Coiloga was then shot at by a newcomer, who turned out to be Winda. “In fact, it’s you who’s going to be meeting your end.”

Yuri had a moment of recognition upon seeing his rescuer. “Do I know you?”, he asked.

“You’ve lost your memory again.”, Winda noted. “Don’t worry, just pick up the that Sphere on the floor and press it.”

* * *

Back at the gravel pit, Scales was explaining the details of his survival. “After our battle with Dr. Cerebron, I was intrigued by the repair circuits installed in his Neo-Bullroids. I approached Myron about installing one, which led to him revealing some details.

* * *

“ _I think it might be necessary.”, Myron said. “Something stinks about the things I’ve seen. I went over the Annihilation Gear and there was no sign of anything that could be used to kill anything. If anything, it seemed more like it was built to be lived in.”_

_“That’s odd.”, Scales responded. “But is that all?”_

_“Not in the least.”, was Myron’s answer. “Gingaku was meant to be tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Proton alone. When we faced him, he went down easily. I think we’re being led into a trap. I’ll install the repair circuit, so that one of us is guaranteed to walk out of it.”_

_Scales was happy to hear this. “Oh thank you. But how’re we gonna install it without taking too long?”_

_“We can use this.”, Myron held up the Chronos-14 Cosmo Sphere. “I've studied it and learned we can use it to shift into another point in time entirely. Now then, where’s the circuit?”_

_So after Gingaku had flexed his powers and everyone left, I woke up and decided to set to work. I realised it was unfair that Tarrant and Winda were shut down while I was kept alive. So I hopped back in time using Chronos-14 to take more repair circuits from points where we’d defeated Neo-Bullroids before. Then I hopped back to points where I could get the two of them alone at separate points._

* * *

_** Providence Base, The Day of Cobras’ Attack. ** _

_Winda was lying in the repair bay, allowing her internal diagnostics to identify the damages Structcon had left her with. Then she’d send a signal to the repair machines to fix it. Then she was surprised to see a familiar face standing over her. “Scales? Shouldn’t you be preparing for the upcoming attack?”_

_“Don’t worry, Myron and Heath have that covered.”, he assured her. “I think they’ve figured out that strange new Cosmo Sphere as well. I just thought I’d bring something to help you get better.” He held out one of the repair circuits. “But you’ll need to reset so I can use it.”_

_“If you say so.”, Winda said, resetting herself, knowing the temporary deactivation would remove her short term memory of this meeting. After the shutdown had taken effect, Scales installed the repair circuit and left, remembering too late that the reset might have caused her to be reconnected to the Gingaku network._

* * *

**_The Control Gear, During the Rangers’ Excursion to KO-17._ **

_Myron was in the laboratory, working on rebuilding Tarrant following his destruction at the hands of Spectrum. “It won’t be long now, my friend.”, he whispered to the half-constructed robot. “I’m sorry about what I’ve done to ensure this came to pass. But don’t worry, I intend to make up for it.”_

_“Oh boo hoo.”, Myron turned around to see Cha-ChaMari standing there. “If you’re done for now, Master Spectrum is waiting for you in the main conference room. This robot of yours can wait for longer.”_

_Myron sighed and left his work. After he left, Scales snuck in and spent time inserting the repair circuit, making sure not to expose that Tarrant had been worked on while Myron was away._

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon. Now.**

“So after we were revived - I’m still sketchy on the details - we set to work on positioning ourselves to rescue the others.”, Winda explained as Yuri finished inspecting the Big Bang Sphere. “Now would be a good time to press the button on top.”, she urged.

“Oh right.”, Yuri said as he pressed the button. As the Sphere flashed with energy, Yuri was greeted with several images in his mind’s eye. “I remember now.”, he declared. “I’m a Power Ranger.” He summoned his Morpher and inserted his Sphere into it, before pressing the button and spinning the wheel. In a flash, he was morphed into the Big Bang Ranger. “It’s you and me, Coiloga.”, he declared.

“Just try it, Yuri.”, Coiloga bragged. “I do have the power of Eagle-08 within me.”

“Thank you for holding on to it.”, Winda said as she reached inside Coiloga, pulling her Cosmo Sphere out. “But I’ll be taking it back now.”

“You’ll also need this.”, Yuri threw her his Orion-13 Cosmo Sphere. “You’re the only one who can deal with those Gearoids. I have a score to settle.”

“Okay.”, Winda saluted as she headed off. Yuri was now alone with Coiloga, who he engaged in a sword fight.

* * *

**The Gravel Pit.**

“ ** _Your plan to ensure your survival was very clever_**.”, Gingaku told Scales with anger. “ **But that won’t save you from my wrath.”** He charged forward with a Dark Cosmo Scythe, only to clench his chest in pain. “What’s happening?”

“Let me destroy you with your own strength.”, Katseayor declared as he engaged Tarrant in a fistfight.

However, Tarrant caught the punch and reached into the General’s chest. “I’d rather take that power back, if it’s all the same to you.” He pulled out his Bull-05 Cosmo Sphere and knocked Katseayor back several feet with his other fist. He then inserted the Sphere into his Morpher. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

Slash, with newfound determination, reached his hand into Tricerodo, pulling his own Cosmo Sphere out. “I’ll take this back now.”

“No fair!”, Tricerodo whined. “That’s mine.”

“No, it’s mine.”, Slash stated. He then inserted it into his Morpher, morphing into the Yellow Ranger. “It’s good to be back.”

Katseayor was fuming about the turned tide. “Gearoids, destroy them!”

The giant robots bore down on the Rangers. However, two of them were shot back by the appearance of the Shooting Star Zord. “Don’t worry about these robots.”, Winda radioed. “I can handle them, but I might need some help.”

“On it.”, Slash responded, summoning his Zord.

As the Gearoids lunged towards their prey, the Swordfish Zord appeared and blew several of them to nothing, as the Shooting Star Megazord entered the fray. “We”re not going to let you win.”, Winda declared as she had the Megazord engage one of the remaining Gearoids.

“Not now, not ever.”, Slash added as he flew towards more Gearoids, blowing them up with his lasers.

As they continued, Scales jumped down and joined the fight with the grunts, firing his Rifle at several Detainers and Commanagas.

* * *

** Inside Gingaku’s Mind. **

Drago and Jiro had managed to find an area where the 8 Cosmo Spheres were being held by black webbing, along with Proton. “We just need to dislodge all of these Spheres.”, Drago explained. That will weaken Gingaku enough for the others to take him down.”

“What about Proton?”, Jiro asked.

“One problem at a time.”, Drago urged as he began pushing on Lion-01. “Now push!”

* * *

In the physical world, Gingaku realised what was going on. “ ** _You wo_ n’t get** out”, he yelled. He concentrated, causing manifestations fo his three bodies (original, Crow Nebula custom and Dark Ranger) to appear to fight the two Rangers.

Yuri then appeared from a portal, throwing Coiloga down like he was a rag doll. “Let’s dance, ‘my Lord’.”, he said sarcastically.

“ ** _So, you’ve regained your memories as a Ranger._** ”, Gingaku noted. “ ** _But it won’t help you defeat me._** ” He swung his Scythe at Yuri, who blocked with his Saber.

* * *

As Winda continued to occupy her opponent, another Gearoid appeared behind her, prepared to fire. “Watch out!”, Slash called out as he flew in to take the hit, being blown out of the sky.

“Slash!”, Winda cried out. She then finished her first opponent easily and fired the Shooting Star’s lasers at the second Gearoid, blowing it up.

* * *

Inside Gingaku, Jiro and Drago still struggled with the three manifestations. “It’s now or never.”, Drago stated, running past the three into the two Spheres pushing on them.

* * *

Yuri and Gingaku continued their fight, with Yuri initiating his finishing attack. “Leo Lion Slash!”

However, Gingaku caught the Cosmo Saber in midair. “ ** _You fool. I’m in the body of the Fire Knight, thus I possess all of his knowledge. Including how to counter your attacks._** ” He then threw Yuri to the side, and prepared his own finishing move, filling his Scythe with energy. “ _ **Darkness Vortex Break!**_ ” He brought his Scythe down on Yuri’s Big Bang Sphere, knocking it out of his Morpher and shattering it. Yuri reverted to his human self. “ ** _Face it. You can’t do anything now.”_**

“Don’t be so sure.” Drago took the chance to burst out of Gingaku, carrying Lion-01 and Scorpion-02 in his hands. “While you were occupied, I took the chance to get out with these.” He threw the two Spheres to their respective owners.

“Thanks, Drago.”, Myron nodded as he inserted it into his Morpher. “Now I can do some fly-swatting.” He morphed and began swinging his Cosmonata at Katseayor.

Yuri picked up his Cosmo Sphere, intending to recommence battle with Gingaku, but was stopped by the arrival of a new figure, exactly resembling the Fire Knight. “Deal with the others.”, he said. “I can handle Gingaku.”

“Okay.”, Drago said with some confusion. “But who are you?”

“Let’s just say I’m someone here to help him prevent a screw-up.”, was the answer. Yuri recognised who his rescuer was. “And trying to make up for 5 years worth of his own screw-ups.”

“ ** _So, you’ve decided to stand against me, Dark Soul?_** ”, Gingaku stated. “ _ **And what became of your little friend?**_ ”

“She and Kota are still in your fortress, Gingaku.”, Gregory answered. “They’re going to find the core and blow it sky high.”

Gingaku growled at this. He turned to his minions and began barking orders. “ _ **Get back to Clockwork Palace. Stop them from destroying it.”**_ The grunts complied, turning and marching back to the palace.

“We’ll handle that.”, Mila insisted as she took Scales, Cobras and Barry away to pursue the army.

“I guess that means we’re able to beat you.”, Tricerodo giggled. “After all, one of us is easily worth two of you and there are only 5 of you.”

“Make that seven.” She was shot back by an arriving Winda and Slash, the latter of whom was no worse for wear from his crash.

“Let’s go.”, Yuri said as he slid his Cosmo Sphere into position and placed it in his Morpher.

“Indeed.”, Drago nodded as he did the same.

The two then initiated their Morphing sequences, transforming into the Red and Dragon Rangers, before charging into the fight against Coiloga. Gregory, meanwhile, decided to take on Gingaku.

* * *

Inside Gingaku, Jiro noticed the bound figure of Proton while fighting and came to a realisation. “If I can get him out of those webs, then he can retake control of his body and let me out.” He stopped fighting and began slashing at the vines.

However, they began to reform. “ _Don’t even try it._ ”, Gingaku’s voice echoed as the manifestations continued their assaults. “ _No matter what you try, you’re stuck here! Forever!”_

However, Proton managed to regain consciousness and pull his arm away before the vines could reach him. “I will… I can…”, he stated.

* * *

In the real world, Gingaku and Gregory were evenly matched. “ _ **I taught you well.”**_ , Gingaku complimented him. “ ** _But not well enough.”_** He reached for his Cosmo Sphere, intending to initiate a final attack… only for his arm to disobey him. “What?”

“…BREAK FREE!”, Proton’s voice yelled as the arm instead pulled the Sphere out, crushing it.

“ ** _No_**!”, Gingaku yelled as he reverted to a normal human.

Proton then reached for the Gingaku Morpher, into which Gingaku had retreated. “Get off me!”, he yelled as he pulled it off and threw it down.

Jiro then reappeared, holding the remaining Cosmo Spheres. “That was a close one.”, he commented.

“Master!” Katseayor yelled with shock, before throwing Tarrant back. “I’ll have to deal with you at my full power.” He detonated his Super Growth Implant, enlarging to giant size.

“We’ll handle this.”, Drago said, singling out Winda and Slash. “Summon Zords!” The three Zords combined with Yellow as the right arm and Pink as the left arm. “Dragon Star Megazord, ready!”

“Do you think we can use your bow to get this over with?”, Drago asked Winda.

“Yeah.”, Winda said with some confusion.

The Dragon Star charged at Katseayor, holding him at bay with its sword and punching with the Eagle Arm. “Jiro, get those Spheres to the others.”, Proton urged.

“What about you?”, Gregory asked, as he demorphed and presented the Firebird Sphere. “You don’t have your powers anymore, Proton.”

“Don’t worry about that.”, he assured him. “It’s chosen a new host in you. You need to prove it right.” He then led Jiro in following the others’ footprints. “You need to help the others.”

“Okay.”, Gregory nodded, before morphing again and summoning the Fire Voyager, transforming it. “Fire Voyager Megazord, ready!” Katseayor found himself being blasted back by the newly arrived Megazord, as it landed. “Let’s take this guy down together.”, Gregory radioed to the others.

“Sounds good.”, Drago replied as he stood the Dragon Star up. It and the Fire Voyager charged at Katseayor, blocking his arms so that the Dragon Star could knock the General back with his sword, before the Fire Voyager used its own swords to knock him down.

“Why you.”, Katseayor commented as the Rangers prepared their final attacks. “Burning Double Inferno Caliber!”

“Cosmic Dragon Arrow!”

The two attacks fired, hitting Katseayor head on. “I couldn’t even be beaten by the real Fire Knight.” Katseayor fell down and exploded after giving his final words.

“Let’s go.”, Drago stated as the four leapt down to the ground.

* * *

On the ground, Yuri, Myron and Tarrant had pushed the two remaining Generals back. “Now we just need to finish you two off.”, Myron stated. “And then Gingaku is gone for good.”

The other 4 landed on the ground. Yuri took the opportunity to turn to Gregory. “Thanks for saving me out there.”

“Hey, you chose not to let your friends destroy me before.”, Gregory responded. “I merely returned the favour.”

“How touching.” Everyone turned to see the Gingaku Morpher, floating through the air. It transformed into a copy of Gingaku, now back in his original body. “You’ve forced me to spend the energy of the Anima Core reviving myself. It now has power enough for only two resurrections.” He then zapped the smoking crater where Katseayor had fallen, reviving him at small size.

“I thank you my Lord.”, Katseayor saluted.

“I wouldn’t want to do this without all three of my Victorious Generals by my side.”, Gingaku replied. Then he turned to the 7 Rangers. “The final battle is now. And none of you will be walking away from here.”

“That’s funny.”, Yuri laughed. “I was about to say the same thing to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter hybridises episodes 47 and 29 of Kyuranger. It was meant to be just the latter, but I wanted to use the footage of Raptor in the Orion cockpit and my intended use for it didn’t quite work smoothly, hence the plot of Gingaku giving his power to his generals. 
> 
> I do realise the irony in Yuri regaining his Earth memories by losing his Ranger memories. I thought it was suitably appropriate. 
> 
> Originally, I planned for only Scales to revive using the repair system, but then I remembered a scrapped plan for my finale involving Chronos-14 (removed because it resembled a lot of controversial reset button endings), and since I was using episode 47 footage here, I decided to bring both Winda and Tarrant back as well.


	39. The Final Frontier, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Yuri’s group begin their final showdown with Gingaku and his Generals, Mila’s group work to help destroy Clockwork Palace.

**Clockwork Palace.**

Pamela and Kota were making their way through the structure, looking for the core of the complex. “This place is pretty huge.”, Pamela stated. “How does it all fit on here?”

“The place uses hyper-dimensional extension technology.”, Kota explained. “It allows us to compress as much space as we want into a single structure.”

Pamela nodded nervously. “So it basically makes the building bigger than it looks. How much further to the core?”, she asked.

“Not far now.”, was Kota’s answer. “We’re three corridors away by now. “We just have to make sure that nothing can interrupt us.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

Outside the structure, an army of Detainers, Commanagas and Neo-Bullroids advanced on the structure. _{{+++Targets located within.+++}}_ , the lead Neo-Bullroid noted as it scanned the structure. _{{+++Orders to enter and terminate targets will be carried out+++}}_

“Oh no you don’t.” The army turned around to see Mila, Scales, Cobras and Barry approaching. “We’re not going to let you take over the universe again.”, Mila announced. “Not now, not ever.”

“Big talk.”, one of the Commanagas commented. “For a couple of Rangers with no powers.”

“That’s about to change.” Everyone turned to see Jiro approaching with Proton. “Everyone, catch.”, the former called out as he threw their Cosmo Spheres to them.

Everyone caught a Cosmo Sphere. But as they were about to Morph, they saw that they had caught the wrong ones: Mila had Cub-11, Scales had Serpent-06, Cobras had Balance-04 and Barry had Chameleon-07. “What are the odds of this?”, the latter asked.

“Actually pretty high.”, Scales answered as everyone swapped back. “Now then, let’s try this again.”

“It’s Morphing Time!”, the 5 declared as they slid their Spheres into position. Their Morphers were summoned, and the Spheres were inserted into them. The enemies began firing, but the Rangers ran forward and began fighting them off. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” They then fired their beams, taking out several enemies each and morphing into their Ranger suits.

“Claw of the Wolf,” Jiro used his Cosmo Claw to knock some Neo-Bullroids back “Blue Ranger!”

“The Balance Between Good and Evil,” Scales spun around, shooting several Detainers with his Cosmo Rifle “Gold Ranger!”

“Glimmer of the Serpent,” Cobras slashed several Commanagas using his Cosmo Scythe “Silver Ranger!”

“Stealth of the Chameleon,” Mila did a front flip to bring her Cosmo Blade down on a Neo-Bullroid, slashing it in two “Green Ranger!” She then kissed her weapon. “I have missed you.”

“Paw of the Bear,” Barry used his Cosmonata’s two ends to knock several combatants back “Sky Ranger!”

The lead Bullroid took note of Proton. _{{+++You do not possess any powers+++}}_ , it noted. _{{+++Query: How do you hope to fight on par with your fellow organics?+++}}_

“Oh I still have one power.”, Proton said in response. He ran in and began fighting off Detainers. “I never give up. Why do you think I call myself ‘the Burning Challenger’?”

* * *

**The Gravel Pit.**

Yuri, Myron, Tarrant, Slash, Winda, Drago and Gregory were facing down Gingaku, accompanied by Katseayor, Tricerodo and Coiloga. “Prepare yourselves.”, Gingaku declared. “Your defeat will serve as a warning to the fools who deign to follow in your footsteps.”

“Oh no.”, Yuri shook his head. “Today will be the day your threat ends forever.” He turned to the other Rangers. “Are you ready?”

“You know it.”, Slash answered him.

“Ready, willing and able.”, Tarrant added.

“Until the bitter end.”, Winda replied.

“I’m not gonna back down.”, said Drago.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.”, Myron said confidently.

“Enough chit-chat.” Gregory pulled the sword part of his Galaxy Saber out. “Let’s do this.”

The Rangers all charged at their enemies, but Gingaku was unfazed. “Take care of them.”, he said to his Generals, as they also charged.

And thus, a fight broke out between the two sides. Yuri went up against Gingaku. “So you’re the one that Astral Leo put his being in the hands of.”, Gingaku stated as he slashed at Yuri with his scythe. “I’m not impressed.”

“You’ll find I’m a lot more than I look like.”, Yuri said in response as he punched back. He then placed Lion-01 on his Cosmo Saber. “Cosmic Energy Slash!” He thrust his weapon forward, sending a wave of energy at his opponent.

Gingaku responded by funnelling Dark-X into his scythe and using it for a similar attack. “Darkness Vortex Break!” The two attacks met in mid-air, cancelling each other out. “Looks like we’re evenly matched.”, Gingaku noted. “I’d better show my full range of powers.” He transformed into his Crow Nebula body and began flying in the air, throwing his twin swords at Yuri.

Yuri jumped out of the way and pulled out the Pegasus-33 Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher. “Plus Up!” He summoned the Pegasus armour, leaping into the air and clashing with Gingaku at close range.

Myron and Gregory fought with Coiloga, who locked his sword with their weapons. “I forgot: I have a past with you two as well.”, Coiloga laughed. “I brought your brother into our organisation (he indicated Myron) and I made you into one of our own (he indicated Gregory).” He delivered another slash of his sword. “It’s almost like fate.”

“You’re deranged.”, Myron told him as he blocked Coiloga’s slash, before pushing him back with his Cosmonata. “At least Cerebron had an excuse, you’re just sick.”

Gregory then delivered a kick to the Centre General, knocking him back. “And by the way, I owe you a little payback for ‘helping’ me.” He inserted the Galaxy Saber into the shield and pulled it out. “Burning Calibur!”

Myron placed his Unicorn-27 Sphere onto his Cosmonata. “Unicorn Energy Collision!” He used both ends of the weapon to deliver simultaneous hits to Coiloga, as Gregory brought his weapon down to deliver another blow.

Katseayor was engaging Tarrant and Drago. “The Fire Knight said you were his true strength.”, the Left General said as he punched at his two opponents. “So if I destroy you, I’ll be able to defeat him.”

Tarrant threw Drago into the air, before charging with his Cosmo Axe. “You must be stuck on repeat.”, he commented as he swung his weapon at Katseayor multiple times, buffeting him. “While we’ve only improved our skills against multiple foes.”

“Compared to them?”, Drago stated as he fired his Dragon Staff in rifle mode several times. He landed and delivered a slash using his sword mode. “You’re pretty single-minded.” He then opened and closed the head of his staff, initiating his final attack. “Dragonic Break!”

Tarrant placed his Cosmo Sphere on his Axe. “Cosmic Energy Crash!” He brought it down on Katseayor at the same time as Drago fired his shot. The two attacks hit Katseayor, knocking him back.

Finally, Winda was fighting Tricerodo with help from Slash. “So you’re the defective android and the chef dear Coiloga sabotaged.”, the Right General noted. “I thought I’d at least be fighting Cobras as my final Ranger opponent.”

“He’s a little preoccupied.”, Slash informed her as he hit her with his Cosmo Dagger. “You’ll have to face us instead.”

“And you Gingaku members need to stop calling me ‘defective’.”, Winda said with some anger. “Especially since you’re an android yourself, one that’s meant to embody compassion. Well let me tell you that you seem to have no definition of that word yourself.” She prepped two Cosmo Spheres. “McCaw-72, plus Fly-57, activate!” She then vanished.

“Looks like I’ll have to take you on by myself for now.”, Slash said as he continued his assault, dodging the shots Tricerodo aimed at him. He then placed his Cosmo Sphere on his Dagger. “Cosmic Energy Slice!” He aimed his hit at his enemy’s hand, damaging her significantly.

“Hey!”, Tricerodo complained. “You broke my nails.”

“Neither of us care.” Winda came flying in at full force with giant wings, picking up Tricerodo and flying to a high altitude. “You won’t need your nails when this is over. You’re going to pay for all you’ve done, witch”

“Oh, really?”, Tricerodo commented. “Because I feel like, doing it again.” She sprayed Winda with the gas from her sceptre. “I made one of you my servant with this gas, and I can do it again. Aporioshi proved it works on robots with your Megazord.”

However, Winda was unaffected. “You’re not the first to try and control me against my will. I’ve had firewalls put in place to prevent that from happening ever again.” She dropped Tricerodo down, before aiming her Cosmo Blaster and inserting the Eagle-08 Sphere. “Cosmic Energy Blast!” The shot caused Tricerodo to fall to Earth much faster.

And down on Earth, Yuri was still fighting Gingaku, who shifted into the form Gingaku had taken when he first awakened within Proton. “I still have the Fire Knight’s connection to Firebird-12.”, he bragged. He prepared his scythe again, but this time filling it with fire rather than darkness. “Burning Vortex Slash!”

Yuri dodged out of the way of the shot, morphing into the Solar Red Ranger. “You’re not the only one who can play with fire.”, he stated as he began launching a flurry of flaming punches and kicks, which were mostly blocked. He hen went for his special move. “Solar Crash!” He surrounded himself with energy and charged straight at Gingaku, causing both of them to go up in an explosion.

“Yuri!”, everyone called out from the side.

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

The other 5 Rangers continued dealing with the assembled grunts. One Neo-Bullroid however, came to a conclusion of its own. _{{+++Current situation unsalvageable. Proceed with primary directive. Eliminate impediment to Clockwork Palace.+++}}_

The other Neo-Bullroids received the input command from the first, with all of the robots making their way into the building. “That can’t be good.”, Scales realised.

“We need to get in there and stop them.”, Mila stated.

“You three handle that.”, Cobras insisted. “Barry, Proton and I can deal with these grunts.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”, Jiro said as he, Mila and Scales entered Clockwork Palace.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”, Proton yelled as he continued to grapple with Detainers.

“Oh we do.” Cobras pulled out his Void Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher. “Dark Energy, Unleash!”

“Barry did likewise with his Bear-22 Sphere. “Plus Up!”

Now in their respective Super Ranger forms, Cobras and Barry engaged their opponents.

* * *

**Inside Clockwork Palace.**

Pamela and Kota had found their way to the core. “Okay, so how do we activate the self-destruct?”, Pamela asked. “Is there a big red button or something?”

“Ah yes, Gingaku has heard of that cliche.”, Kota responded with a laugh. “As a matter of fact, there’s a sophisticated mechanism that needs to be activated in a certain sequence.” He went over to the controls and began operating them. “Now if I can just remember the sequence.”

It was at this point that two Neo-Bullroids entered. “You might want to speed it up.”, Pamela urged. “We’ve got company.”

 _{{+++Targets located. Objective: neutralise.+++}}_ , the lead robot declared as it charged its weapon to fire.

“Oh no you don’t.” The two Neo-Bullroids turned around to see Mila, Jiro and Scales entering the room. “You’ll have to go through us first.”

The three Rangers engaged in battle with the two robots, with Jiro and Scales double-teaming the second of them. Mila knocked her opponent back with a few strikes, before inserting her Cosmo Sphere. “Cosmic Energy Str-” She stopped for a second, remembering something. “No. I think it’s only fair I get to pull this off now.” She generated the other two components of her Cosmo Weapon and attached them to the other end. “Now then, Cosmic Energy Slash!” She used her new configuration, which had the handle folded out to slash through the enemy robot, destroying it.

Jiro and Scales made similarly short work of their opponent. “Cosmic Energy Scratch/Burst!” The two attacks made it so the last Neo-Bullroid was no more.

“Good thing you guys showed up when you did.”, Kota said to the Rangers. “Now we just need to figure out the sequence to blow this place sky high.”

“Myron will be too occupied to help out.”, Mila realised. “But I do know someone who can help.”

* * *

**Corona City, Florida.**

Commander Goodman was rallying her remaining men to arms. “Alright, we need to get to Copper Falls and help stop whatever’s going on there.”, she announced.

“But we don’t even have a means to get there easily.”, one of the soldiers noted. “And if the Power Rangers couldn’t stop it, then what chance do we have?”

It was then that Goodman received a call. “ _Commander, it’s Mila. Don’t worry, we’re okay and we’re handling the situation. But we’ve kind of hit a snag. To get out of it, we need that self-destruct sequence you used to destroy Providence.”_

“Is that all?”, Goodman asked. “In that case, you need to spin the dial 5 times, input the code ‘5348’ and then pull the red lever.”

“ _Wilco. Out_.”, came the response as Mila signed off.

“Looks like we don’t need to do anything.”, Goodman told her men, who breathed a collective sigh of relief.

* * *

**The Gravel Pit.**

The smoke of the blast cleared to reveal that Gingaku had reverted to normal, while Yuri was unmorphed and holding a glowing ball of energy. “What’s that?”, Slash asked.

“It’s Proton’s link to Firebird-12.”, Yuri answered. “Gingaku had absorbed it to try and tap the power for himself.” He threw the ball to Gregory. “I’m sure you know where this goes.”

“All too well.”, Gregory demorphed and set off running.

“Stop him.”, Gingaku yelled to his generals. All ran off after their former ally, except for Coiloga. “How were you able to extract the link? The only one capable of such a feat is -”

“Astral Leo.”, Yuri concluded. “Didn’t you wonder how I was still able to morph using Lion-01 after he was destroyed?”

“Of course.”, Myron realised. “He transferred part of his power into Yuri just before that happened.”

“Exactly.”, Yuri said in response. “Enough power for me to do this.” He summoned up a collection of energy, recreating his Big Bang-315 Sphere. “Exactly like the original, but much more powerful.”

“So, you’ve managed to recover your full strength.”, Gingaku growled. “But will it help you defeat me?”

“Let’s find out.”, Yuri answered. He pressed the top of the Sphere, before inserting it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He pressed the button again, before spinning the wheel and morphing into his Super Mode. “The Warrior of Light, Big Bang Ranger!”

“It’s the same thing we’ve all seen before.”, Coiloga bragged. “Let’s see how it handles this.” He fired a beam of energy from his sword.

However, Yuri merely opened a portal that redirected the attack back at Coiloga. “Nice try.” He then picked up his old foe with his cape, pulling him towards him as he summoned his Cosmo Saber. “Leo Lion Slash!” He hit Coiloga as he threw through the air, blowing him up.

Gingaku growled. “Perhaps I underestimated you Rangers.” He then turned in the direction his other minions had run in. “Tricerodo. Katseayor. Get back here. I’ll need your help.”

Gingaku used the last of his Anima energy to revive Coiloga as a giant, as Katseayor and Tricerodo both enlarged as well. “We’re back together again.”, the three said in unison.

“You’ll need this to take them down.”, Yuri said as he threw Lion-01 to Drago. “Gingaku is mine.”

“On it.”, Drago nodded as he inserted it into his Staff, activating the summon function. “Summon Lion Zord.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

As Cobras and Barry continued beating their way through the Detainers, Proton found himself overwhelmed by Commanagas. “I knew it was a good idea to swap opponents.”, their leader gloated. “You can’t do anything to us now.”

“Oh yes he can.” Gregory came running forward with the ball that was Proton’s link with Firebird-12. He then placed it within Firebird-12 itself and threw it. “Here, catch!”

Proton caught the Sphere, feeling energy flow into his body. “Thanks for that.”, he said as he held out his arm. “Galaxy Saber!” He summoned his own Morpher, inserting the Sphere within. “Rise! Change!” He pulled the sword out, transforming once more and taking out several Commanagas. “The Burning Challenger! Fire Knight!”

It was at that point that the giant Generals appeared in the distance. “You’d better take care of that.”, Cobras suggested. “We can handle things here.”

“Okay.”, Proton nodded as he prepared his Galaxy Saber. “Voyager, Take Off!”

* * *

**The Gravel Pit.**

The Lion Zord, piloted by the Dragon Ranger, combined with Yellow as the right arm, Pink as the left arm, Black as the right leg and Orange as the left leg.

At the same time, the Fire Voyager began its transformation. “Sorry I’m late.”, Proton radioed as the combination completed itself.

“It’s ok.”, Drago responded as the two robots stood next to each other. “I’m gonna need some aid while I figure this thing out.”

“Ready!”, the other 4 said, doing their regular announcement.

“Well then, let’s do this.”, Proton stated as he pointed at the three enemies.

The two Megazords charged at the three enemies, both sides battering each other with their weapons. Down on the ground, Yuri dodged all of Gingaku’s shots as he moved around the quarry. “Stand still!”, the overlord growled.

“Not a chance.”, Yuri said as he appeared behind Gingaku, delivering another slash, that was blocked. He then ducked more strikes from his enemy’s scythe.

“Take this.”, the pilots of the Cosmo Megazord stated as they brought their sword down on Katseayor and Coiloga while Proton did likewise to Tricerodo. Both then pushed their opponents back.

“Darkness Slash!” Gingaku brought his scythe down to strike Yuri, only to be blocked. “What?”

The Rangers’ weapon’s appeared from 12 different portals. “You’re forgetting the full powers of the Big Bang Sphere.” Yuri then aimed the weapons at Gingaku. “And that’s going to cost you.”

He sent the weapons flying into Gingaku, who could barely block any of the hits. “Too much power.”, he stated.

“And you’ve used up the Anima Core’s power.”, Yuri responded, brandishing a Cosmonata. “So that means that you can’t come back from this.” He walked forward as the weapons continued to hit Gingaku. “This is your end.” He swung the weapon at Gingaku, joining in the assault, by grabbing each of the individual weapons to attack him with. After Gingaku knocked Mila’s Cosmo Blade away, Yuri grabbed his Cosmo Saber and delivered a final hit. “And no-one will miss you.” He delivered a slash that knocked Gingaku back.

“Let’s finish this.”, Drago said in the Megazord.

“Galaxy Saber, Charge!”, Proton stated as he began his own finisher. “Voyager Burning Dual Calibur!”

“Cosmo Megazord Star Slash!”, the other 5 declared. “Final Attack!”

The two robots brought their swords’ beams down on the three Generals, buffeting them. Then Proton leapt towards them in the Fire Voyager. “Burning Crash!” He slashed through all three, destroying them. “Now that was hot.”

“Time I ended this.”, Yuri stated as he pressed the top of his Big Bang Sphere, filling himself with energy. “Big Bang Energy Blast!”

The astral images of several stars bombarded Gingaku swiftly and without mercy. “This can’t be!”, he declared. “I was defeated by a mere human? I don’t believe it.”

He then exploded, as Yuri looked on. “This Space is ours.”

* * *

** Copper Falls, Oregon. **

Cobras and Barry were facing down the last of their opponents. “Black Hole Glaive!”, Cobras declared as he brought his weapon down.

“Jumbo Energy Blast!”, Barry cried as he fired his Cosmo Morpher. With that, the last of the Gingaku soldiers were no more.

“That seems to be the end of them.”, Gregory pointed out. “We just need to hear from the others in the building.”

It was then that the 5 of them came running out of the building. “Everyone get out of here.”, Mila called out. “This thing’s gonna blow!”

“Not necessarily.” Everyone turned to see Yuri arrived, flanked by his group. “Cobras, hit it with your Black Hole Sphere.”

“Ok.”, Cobras said with some confusion, loading his Black Hole Sphere and firing it on Clockwork Palace as it began to explode. This had the effect of sucking in both the energy of the blast and the debris it left behind.

“And now to restore the area that was devastated.”, Yuri took out his Big Bang Sphere, pressed the top three times and spun the dial. This had the effect of restoring the damage. “It’s over. The threat of Gingaku is a thing of the past and all trace of their leadership is no more.”

Everyone in the group promptly began celebrating, along with a few people who had overheard the conversation. In the midst of this, Proton went over to Gregory. “You had the power of a Cosmo Sphere, but you gave it up to me. Why?”

Gregory shrugged. “If I’m honest, I don’t think I’m rid of my past enough to be a Ranger. Plus you’ve got more experience than I have with the gear. I just had blind luck.”

“I see.”, Proton nodded. “You made a good choice. I wish you luck with your future endeavours.”

“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet.” Everyone turned around to see Tricerodo, now resembling her original appearance. “In fact, the fun hasn’t even started yet.”

“Tricerodo.”, Cobras hissed. “How are you still around?”

“I absorbed some Anima energy from my fellow Generals.”, was her answer. “It allowed me to survive your onslaught, albeit reverted to my previous form.” She then held up a piece of Gingaku’s scythe. “I still have enough left to use, plus some of the powers that Dark Soul was infused with. Gingaku will come back, bigger and better than ever.”

“What?”, Proton gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh but I am.”, Tricerodo giggled. “And Yuri dear, I’m going to be unleashing my master’s new reign of terror in your old home town of Corona City. Bye bye for now.” She turned around and began skipping away, throwing helmets onto various citizens to turn them into Detainers as she went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 30 of Kyuranger (told you I’d get back to this).
> 
> There’s not much to say here. Just know that next chapter will be the last. 
> 
> I intended for Gregory becoming the new Fire Knight to be permanent, but I wasn’t sure if he’d fully deserved it, so I instead had Proton regain the powers at the end of this chapter.


	40. The Final Frontier Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle with Gingaku ends as the Rangers race to stop Tricerodo from reviving Gingaku. But can they succeed in saving the universe?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring a brief cameo by [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708021/chapters/33989918 these guys]]
> 
> Oh yeah, we have a TV Tropes page now. Check it out [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/PowerRangersCosmicDefenders here]] (I have no idea if this is how you do that coding)

**Corona City, Earth.**

A pair of security guards were watching over a tall skyscraper. “Is this place really worth all the trouble?”, one of them asked. “It’s abandoned. Who’d want something from this place?”

“Gingaku remnants.”, was his comrade’s answer. “One of them used this place as a base in the past, and they left some stuff behind. We don’t know what any of it does, but we can’t risk them coming back and taking it. We were supposed to move it elsewhere, but that place blew up yesterday.”

“So I guess we’re supposed to watch over it until a new place comes to light?”, the first guard stated. “Just great.” The two guards then saw a woman, dressed in business attire, with blonde hair in a ponytail and glasses, stumbling towards them. “Ma’am, you shouldn’t be here. This is a restricted area.”

“Oh I’m sorry.”, the woman replied. “I’m sure I have an all-access pass right…” she pulled something out of her coat pocket and threw it up in the air. “Here.”

Before either of the two guards could react, their heads were covered by helmets, transforming them into Detainers. “For the glory of the Clan.”, the two stated as they did a bizarre salute.

“Good.”, Tricerodo giggled as she reverted to her normal form. “Now then, you’ll let me in to get my stuff. I have a present for the Rangers.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

The Rangers had begun fighting off the Detainers. “Just our luck.”, Jiro commented. “The minute we get comfortable, it turns out we still have work to do.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard.”, Myron commented as he knocked several Detainers back with a swing of his tail. “We just need to neutralise this small group.”

As if on cue, more Detainer helmets began raining from the sky, converting more people into enemies. “You just had to say it didn’t you?”, Yuri said sarcastically.

The image of Tricerodo appeared in the sky. “ _Rangers, I hope you like my little gift to you all._ ”

“You know we don’t.”, Mila snapped.

Proton beat more Detainers back with his Galaxy Saber. “She can’t hear you, it’s a broadcast.”

“ _We’ve had a little failsafe in place for a while._ ”, Tricerodo continued. “ _In the event that a planet is on the verge of having control lost, I can activate satellites installed in orbit and replenish the troops on the planet. I had it installed in Earth’s orbit after my abortive Omega-Zero, as a test.”_

“And you’ve never had a chance to use it until now.”, Drago finished. “An instant army of Detainers is created when you do use it.”

The transmission continued. “ _Oh, I didn’t tell you the best part. It’s not just Detainer helmets. The satellites will also release some Commanagas and Terrorvores to join in the fun. You can try and work your way past them to get to me, but you’ll be too late.”_ The message then signed off.

Cobras growled. “Have I mentioned how much I hate that woman?”

Scales shot a few more Detainers. “You may have said it once or twice.”

“Never mind these grunts.”, Gregory called out. “We can handle them. You Rangers need to stop her from bringing Gingaku back again.”

“Are you sure?”, Barry called out. “Because these helmets are tough to break. I should know.”

“We can work around that.”, Pamela called out as she punched a blue Detainer back.

Kota delivered a kick to a pair of green and gray Detainers. “For now, you need to get moving.”

“Don’t need to tell us twice.”, Yuri said as he led everyone away.

* * *

**Corona City, Florida.**

Tricerodo stood at the window of the tower. “Time to begin the ritual.” She summoned up Balistas’ cannons. “Of all the powers I have access to, this is the one that will make things right again.” She threw the piece of Gingaku’s scythe, charged with Anima Core energy, into the air, before launching the sand missiles at it. “Soon my Lord, you’ll be restored as a more powerful and mighty being than before.”

“But won’t he be made of sand?”, one of the Commanagas flanking her asked. “Hard to be all-powerful if you can be killed by rain.”

Tricerodo blasted him with a beam. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Once the sand takes shape, I’ll superheat it into glass, so strong that it can’t be broken. Nothing will stop him.”

* * *

**Copper Falls, Oregon.**

As the Rangers ran on through the streets, the found themselves confronted by a pair of Neo-Bullroids. “There are more of these things?”, Tarrant gasped.

“Apparently so.”, Winda answered as she aimed her weapon. “We’ll have to deal with them.”

 _{{+++Target identified: Power Rangers.+++}}_ , the lead robot declared. _{{+++Directive: eliminate.+++}}_.

As the two robots marched forward, they were shot back. The Rangers looked up to the source, which turned out to be seven other Rangers, all of whom had a vehicle motif and a colour line-up of red, blue, yellow, green, black, gold and silver. “We’ll handle these guys.”, the red one insisted.

“And be quick.”, the silver one added. Myron recognised her voice, but said nothing. “It’s not every day that past Rangers come out of retirement to help stop a threat.”

The Rangers all nodded and took off running. “Any idea who those guys were?”, Mila asked.

“I’ve got some vague memories, but nothing concrete.”, Yuri answered. “I was a kid when they first showed up.”

* * *

**Corona City, Florida.**

Tricerodo watched the news as images of past Ranger teams (namely, Operation Overdrive, Ninja Steel, Time Force, Mighty Morphin’, Jungle Fury and Beast Morphers) fighting off the troops she had prepared around the globe. “ _As you can see, Gingaku’s second invasion of Earth is being successfully thwarted by the Power Rangers that have defended it for years. And with rumours circulating of the current team having defeated Gingaku elsewhere, this may very well be the final end of this evil that has plagued us for so long.”_

Tricerodo fumed at this. “Get out there and stop them from coming here.”, she growled at her two Commanagas. “Nothing must interfere with our Lord’s return. Nothing.”

“Yes, my Lady.”, the two Commanagas pumped their arms as they departed.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, Yuri stopped the Rangers before they could keep moving. “If we’re going to stand a chance of ensuring this is the finale of our war, we’re gonna need some extra power. And I can provide it.” He pulled out his Big Bang Sphere, activated it and then inserted it into his Morpher. “Big Bang Energy, Unleash!” He morphed into the Big Bang Ranger, before summoning every weapon at his disposal from portals. “These are more powerful versions of your regular weapons that are already charged with your Cosmo Spheres’ respective energies.”

“So when we use them with the Spheres, they’ll be more powerful.”, Drago realised. “Good thinking. This’ll come in handy when we get into a fight.”

As if on cue, a pair of Terrorvores emerged from the ground. “We can’t waste time fighting them.”, Cobras urged. “We need to go.”

“I’ll hold them off.”, Drago insisted. “All of you can carry on then.”

“You can’t go it alone.”, Barry pointed out. “I’ll stay behind and help you.”

“Alright then.”, Drago nodded. “Everyone else, go.”

“Ok.”, the other 10 nodded as they set off running. Drago and Barry then turned to the two Terrorvores with their powered-up Drago Staff and Cosmonata, before initiating their morphing sequences.

“Cosmic Energy, Unleash!”

“Charge Up,”

The two were morphed into the Dragon and Sky Rangers, who entered an altercation with their two opponents.

* * *

As the Rangers continued on, they came across the two Commanagas that had been sent after them. “You’re not going to advance further, Rangers.”, the first of the two declared.

“Our Lady has decreed it.”, the second added.

“I can handle these guys.”, Tarrant said as he flexed his arms. “Leave them to me.”

Jiro stepped forward next to him. “On your own? I think you might need some help with these guys.”

Tarrant humphed. “Thanks for your help. Everyone else, get going now.”

“Don’t have to tell us twice.”, Yuri replied. “Let’s go.”

The other 8 Rangers left as Jiro and Tarrant charged at their foes. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” The two morphed into the Blue and Black Rangers, using their newly-empowered weapons to fight the two Commanagas.

* * *

In her lair, Tricerodo was happy at what she saw. “You’re almost done, my Lord. I just need to heat up your sand body into glass.” She then used her staff to blast her creation with heat energy.

* * *

Down on the ground, the Rangers were getting closer. “I think we’re out of obstacles now.”, Proton said. “The rest of the way should be smooth sailing.”

“Don’t be too sure.” Everyone turned around to see a group of past foes that had been defeated. Namely, Ryudon, Squideyasu, Mothimor, MechaBat, Blockhead and General Tensil. “In fact, I think your path ends here.”, the second of the group continued.

“Great, how did you guys come back?”, Slash asked with some frustration.

“After all the resurrections we’ve seen lately, I’m frankly not surprised.”, Mila answered him. “Someone will have to stay behind and deal with them.”

“I’ll do it.”, Myron insisted. “I don’t have a stake against Gingaku or Tricerodo. I can stay behind and face these guys so you can go on.”

“But you can’t stay and face them on your own.”, Winda insisted.

“Who said anything about him being alone?” Everyone turned around to see Heath walking forward, his stinger wrapped around his leg, wielding a pole arm. “You didn’t think I’d leave my little brother to fend for himself forever?”, he asked.

“You.”, MechaBat hissed. “I have a score to settle with you for what you turned me into.”

“Yak yak yak.”, Heath responded as he walked up to Myron. “Are you ready for this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”, Myron answered as he took out his Unicorn-27 Sphere, inserting it into his Morpher. “Plus Up!” He was transformed into his Double Sting Form.

“Let’s get going.”, Yuri urged to the others as they continued on, while the two brothers engaged their opponents.

* * *

In her hideout, Tricerodo laughed at her now-completed handiwork. “My Lord, you have returned.”, she stated. “And now you can commence your plan for the universe.”

“I shall place all beings in the universe in eternal stasis.”, Gingaku stated. “Only then will peace and order be able to reign.”

Tricerodo was nervous at this. “Except for your loyal followers, right?”

“No.”, was Gingaku’s answer. “Even they have shown that they cannot be trusted to ensure the order I seek. You will join the rest of the universe, while I remain the one being allowed to continue existing.” He turned away from Tricerodo and began marching through the city.

* * *

On the ground, the Rangers saw the giant Gingaku rampaging. “We’re too late to stop his resurrection.”, Yuri noted.

The sky then began to turn green. “And he’s erected a Gaku Zone.”, Winda added. “He’ll be even more powerful.”

“But we can still stop him from doing any real damage.”, Proton pointed out, placing his Firebird Sphere into his empowered Galaxy Saber. “Change!” He pressed the trigger, morphing into the Fire Knight. “Voyager, Take Off!”

“Of course.”, Yuri realised, pressing his Big Bang Sphere. “Shooting Star, Descend!”

The two ships transformed into their Megazord modes. “Fire Voyager Megazord and Shooting Star Megazord, ready!”

* * *

The two landed, facing Gingaku. “So you’re my final opponents.”, he stated. He fired beams at the two, which were deflected by the Shooting Star. The Fire Voyager then ran up to him. “Take this.” He brought his scythe down, but it was blocked. He soon found himself in a beatdown with the two.

“He’s tough.”, Proton commented as he was pushed back. “This will require some real teamwork.”

“I agree.”, Yuri added. “This ends here, no matter what.” He brought his weapon down on the opponent.

“Oh really?”, Gingaku asked as he blocked with his scythe, before knocking him back. “I am the ultimate being. I should possess all the power in the universe.”

Proton took this opportunity to attack. “Burning Transmission Strike!” He used the two swords to hit Gingaku with a cross of fire.

“That won’t hurt me.”, Gingaku boasted as he redirected the attack towards Yuri, buffeting him.

* * *

The remaining Rangers ran up to the building where Tricerodo was waiting. “You’re too late, Rangers.”, Tricerodo mocked. “The whole universe is about to be frozen forever. You on the other hand, can go ahead and die.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”, Cobras said as everyone held out their Cosmo Spheres. “This is the end, but we’re not the ones going down. Is everyone ready?”

“It’s Morphing Time!”, everyone stated as they summoned their Morphers and inserted their Spheres. “Cosmic Energy, Unleash!” All of them were morphed into their Ranger Suits.

“I’ve got a score to settle.”, Cobras stated as he charged towards her, swinging his Cosmo Scythe.

However, Tricerodo dodged all of his hits. “And after all the trouble I went to powering you up.”, she mocked.

Cobras locked weapons with her. “Shut up!”, he stated.

“You’re still as weak as before.” Tricerodo knocked Cobras back with her weapon. She then did a twirl. “I’ve been fighting since you were still an egg, boy. Did you really hope to come out on top?” She then blasted him with a beam from her staff.

The other Rangers leapt in to take the hit, dispersing it with their weapons. “You’re the same as the other two.”, Mila shouted. “You fail to understand that Cobras isn’t alone. Not while he has us to help him.”

“I think it’s time we show her how powerful you are.”, Scales suggested.

Tricerodo laughed at this. “Without the Gingaku Morpher, he cant use Void Mode to its fullest potential.”

Cobras stepped forward. “Funny thing about potential.”, he now stood in front of the others. “Sometimes, it’s way overestimated.” He pulled out his Void Sphere and inserted it into his Morpher, pushing it forward. “Dark Energy, Unleash!” He leapt into the air and landed behind Tricerodo as the Void Ranger, slashing her down the back, before proceeding to beat her back. “And let’s stop you there.” He used his Ranger abilities to freeze her in place.

“No, stop it.”, Tricerodo pleaded as Cobras threw her weapon away telekinetically and dragged her towards him, delivering a punch to her chest.

Cobras then activated his Final Attack. “Dark Energy Blast!” He fired a beam that knocked her back, into the other Rangers who all hit her with their weapons. As Tricerodo landed, Cobras charged through her with his empowered weapon. “Super Black Hole Glaive!” He jumped onto an arm fold made by Mila, Slash, Scales and Winda before descending on Tricerodo for the finishing blow. “Goodbye, you witch.”

“No, this can’t be.”, Tricerodo stated as all the other Rangers fired their Morphers, as Cobras hit her one more time. “I’ll admit, I really did care for you in the end.” And with that, she was consumed by fire, breathing for the final time, with Cobras looking away the whole time.

* * *

Drago and Barry had knocked the two Terrorvores back, before initiating their powered up attacks. “Super Dragonic Break!”

“Cosmic Energy Blast!” Barry fired his Morpher at the same time as Drago, destroying the two Terrorvores.

* * *

Jiro and Tarrant overcame the two Commanagas before using their weapons. “Super Cosmic Energy Scratch!”

“Super Cosmic Energy Crash!” The two attacks finished off the Commanagas, incinerating their remains as well.

* * *

Heath took on Squideyasu, Mothimor, MechaBat, Blockhead and Tensil, knocking them back, before executing his signature kick. “Scorpion Sting Break!” The technique hit all 4, destroying them again. “How’re you doing, Myron?”

“Pretty good.”, Myron answered, having knocked Ryudon’s implants off, reverting him to a regular Commanaga. He placed his Scorpion-02 Sphere on the hilt, before thrusting it into his opponent, destroying him utterly. “This Space is ours.”

* * *

Proton was still holding out against Gingaku's scythe. “We need to press the attack, now.”, Proton urged to Yuri. “It’s our only chance.”

“Got it.”, Yuri transformed his Megazord back into the Shooting Star Ship, as Gingaku hit the Fire Voyager once more. He then turned to see the ship in front of him. “Firing main cannon.” The Shooting Star Ship plugged the Orion-13 cockpit into the cannon, charging it with energy and firing at Gingaku.

“No.”, Gingaku wheezed as he was hit with the energy. “I have to go on… the universe will descend into chaos with out me. You’ve doomed everyone.”

“You’re wrong.”, Proton insisted as he got up. “The descent into chaos and existence of order… they’re not inevitabilities. They’re choices we can make.”

Yuri stood next to him. “And these choices are what allows the people of the universe to know they’re safe.”, Yuri added. “Thruster Back-blast!” He lowered the head of the Shooting Star, causing Gingaku to be engulfed by the flames.

“Now, let’s do it.”, Proton said, jumping into the air.

“Gotcha.”, Yuri responded. “Fire Voyager Strike!” He batted the robot towards the opponent.

“Super Cosmic Big Bang Burning Crash!”, Proton sliced through Gingaku, defeating him once and for all.

“This isn’t the end.”, Gingaku wheezed. “I can still fight.”

“I don’t think so.”, Yuri responded. “Big Bang Strike!” He launched Orion-13 at Gingaku, causing him to explode fully. “He’s gone. This Space is ours.”

“No, not just ‘this Space’.”, Myron radioed as the sky returned to normal. “The whole universe is finally free of Gingaku.”

* * *

**Psyga-6, the Archer Nebula.**

As news reached the rest of the universe of Gingaku’s fall, the people of the universe celebrated. Psyga-6 was one of these planets, wherein many separated families, including that of one Glom Harborg, were reunited after so long a period of separation.

* * *

**Planet Kakyesu, the Sail System.**

The people of a small tribe organised a small-scale festival. One little girl took time out from the situation to look up to the sky. “Thank you, Power Rangers.”, she said. “You’ve helped our people more than we can ever repay you. Along with so many others.”

* * *

** Planet Carina, the Keel System. **

A solitary woman in green looked up the the sky. “It seems that a great burden has been lifted from the universe.”, she noted. “Perhaps it’s the doing of those young people I met.” She turned around and walked off. “They certainly were interesting.”

* * *

**Planet Kaien, the Lion Galaxy.**

As the people celebrated, Princess Levira looked up to the sky as well. “The Cosmic Defenders have done us a great service.”, she stated. “We shall make sure that their tales are still told a millennium from now.”

* * *

**Planet Earth, Orion-Cygnus Arm.**

A few days had passed since Gingaku’s final defeat. Commander Goodman had officially been appointed to try and help with the search for displaced humans throughout the universe as life returned to normal. Several of the Rangers had volunteered for the mission, but some chose not to.

“I’d like to try and rebuild my life on Earth.”, Yuri explained. “Besides, I’ve been wandering the universe for 5 years. It’s time I stopped for a second.”

“That’s a nice sentiment.”, Drago nodded. He then turned to the other abstainers: Myron, Mila, Winda, Slash and Proton. Cobras and Scales had already left for their own adventure, while Jiro, Tarrant and Barry had already agreed to join the mission, as had Gregory, who wished to atone fully for what he had done. “What about you guys? What’s stopping you from joining?”

“Planet Sori is still in disarray from Gingaku’s conquest.”, Myron explained. “I’d like to go back there with my brother to fix it.”

“Same with me.”, Mila added. “Kota’s already agreed to help restore Talpa to better than it was before.”

Slash was next to explain himself. “With Gingaku gone, I’ll be able to reopen my business and provide quality food to the peoples of my system. And if any of you ever frequent it, I’ll give you a discount.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”, Yuri commented.

“I’ve… grown significantly since joining up with you guys.”, Winda said meekly. “But I’ve decided that my progression has been for the best. I’d like to go back to my home system, help overturn some of the prejudices other machines like me face. Hopefully, I can make some changes of my own.”

“That’s… pretty admirable.”, Drago said with shock. “I knew you’d go on to great things when I first met you.” He then turned to the last of the outliers. “What about you? What’s your reason for abstaining?”

Proton stepped forward from against the wall. “Believe it or not, it’s the same as Yuri’s. I’ve been wandering the universe for years and I just want to stop and get used to the new Earth. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

“We’re pleased for you, Proton.”, Barry told him.

“No, not ‘Proton’.”, he insisted. “Now, I’m going back to just being Kyle Jennings.”

“So I guess this is it, then.”, Yuri stated. “Goodbye.”

“No.”, Kyle pointed out. “You and I can stay in contact. And if there’s any trouble that needs us, I’m sure the others can call upon the rest of us to help out.”

Slash then asked a question on his mind. “By the way, Yuri. What happened to Astral Leo’s powers? Do you still have them?”

Yuri shook his head. “I gave them up. Gingaku started his war with us purely to get his hand on that power. So I’m making sure that they can’t be used by anyone again.” He then handed in his Lion-01 and Big Bang-315 Spheres to Drago. “Just in case you need their help.”

“I’ll do the same.”, Proton said, handing in his Firebird-12 Sphere. “I’m sure that Gregory can use it when he’s ready.”

Winda, Slash, Myron and Mila all handed their Spheres in. “I don’t suppose you can give us a lift back to our home planets, can you?”, Myron asked.

“We’d be glad to do so.”, Drago nodded in approval. “Well, Yuri, Kyle. I wish you both luck.”

“Thanks for that.”, Yuri replied. “And who knows, maybe we will see each other again someday.”

“Maybe.”, Kyle nodded in agreement. “But for now, we should carry on with our lives, to create something bigger and better than what’s come before us.”

With that, the two human Rangers left the room, giving everyone a final wave goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on episode 35 of Kyuranger.
> 
> The reason I used two random mid-season episodes as my finale is because I saw them and thought they’d make great finale material the first time I watched the series. 
> 
> This will be my last Power Rangers adaptation (until I can get the footage to continue AVX). In the mean time, I’ll be working on an original Super Sentai Series, entitled Kijuu Sentai Qidenger. I’ll also be giving permission for anyone who wants to to put the Cosmic Defenders in any crossovers (provided you ask me first)


	41. Cosmo Sphere Fact File

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at the abilities of every Cosmo Sphere, both used and unused. Sentai equivalents are in brackets afterwards.

** Cosmo Spheres **

Lion-01: used for Red Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Shishi)

Scorpion-02: used for Orange Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Sasori)

Werewolf-03: used for Blue Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Ookami)

Balance-04: used for Gold Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Tenbin)

Bull-05: used for Black Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Oushi)

Serpent-06: used for Silver Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Hebitsukai)

Chameleon-07: used for Green Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Chameleon)

Eagle-08: used for Pink Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Washi)

Swordfish-09: used for Yellow Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Kajiki)

Dragon-10: used for Dragon Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Ryu)

Cub-11: used for Sky Ranger morphing, weapon and Zord. (Ooguma)

Firebird-12: used for Fire Knight morphing, weapon and Zord. (Houou)

Orion-13: used to summon Shooting Star Ship. (Orion)

Chronos-14: allows the user to travel through time, but it’s powers are unstable. (Tokei)

Accel-15: increases the users speed. (Ushikai)

Snake-16: launches a series of snakes at the enemy. (Hebi)

Pump-17: Allows the user to control the flow of liquids. (Pump)

Hercules-18: enhances the user’s strength. (Hercules)

Locate-19: creates a map to find the user’s target. (Rashinban)

Telescope-20: increases the user’s accuracy. (Boukenkyou)

Crab-21: generates an energy claw for the user to grab things. (Kani)

Bear-22: Enlarges the Sky Ranger into a giant. (Koguma)

Fish-23: Creates a giant fish. (Uo)

Defend-24: Creates an energy shield. (Tate)

Double-25: creates an exact double of the user, but will wear off after a few minutes or if damaged significantly. (Futago)

Sheep-26: Puts the target to sleep. (Ohitsuji)

Unicorn-27: Equips a spike to the user’s arm. (Ikakuju)

Water-28: fires a jet of water. (Mizugame)

Goat-29: Creates a recorded message. (Yagi)

Coronet-30: generates a crown. (Kanmuri)

Centaur-31: transforms the user’s lower body into that of a glowing horse. (Centaurus)

Peacock-32: Creates a flurry of feathers to disorientate opponents. (Kujaku)

Pegasus-33: Summons the sentient Pegasus armour. (Pegasus)

Hair-34: changes people’s haircuts. (Kaminoke)

Archer-35: shoots arrows at the target. (Ite)

Perseus-36: necessary to open the way to the Gingaku Brainworld. (Perseus)

Whale-37: fires a stream of water.

Cassiopeia-38: necessary to open the way to the Gingaku Brainworld. (Cassiopeia)

Lizard-39: allows for climbing on vertical surfaces. (Tokage)

Andromeda-40: chains up enemies, in addition to being necessary to open the way to the Gingaku Brainworld. (Andromeda)

Micro-41: used for microscopic analysis. (Genbikyo)

Hound-42: used to enhance the user’s sense of smell. (Ryoken)

Giraffa-43: allows for neck extension. (Kirin)

School-44: allows for rapid swimming. (Tobiuo)

Crow-45: traps targets in a world of despair, akin to a Gaku Zone. (Karasu)

Metre-46: creates a ruler and chalk for attacks. (Jyogi)

Sculpt-47: used for reshaping rock according to the user’s desire. (Choukokushitsu)

Dolphi-48: allows the user to dive through solid objects. (Iruka)

Compass-49: Creates a chalkboard compass. (Compass)

Flame-50: Summons a pillar of fire that can be used for multiple purposes. (Saidan)

Virgin-51: Allows the user to disguise themselves as a pretty woman (even if they’re a man). (Otome)

Lupus-52: allows the user to fight like a dog. (Ooinu)

Triangle-53: used for three-pronged elemental attacks. (Sankaku)

Cepheus-54: necessary to open the way to the Gingaku Brainworld. (Cepheus)

Lyre-55: plays music. (Koto)

Swan-56: allows for breathing in any environment. (Hakuchou)

Fly-57: creates a set of wings for the user. (Hae)

Dove-58: generates doves. (Hato)

Art-59: creates a portrait almost instantly. (Gaka)

Purity-60: sprays a liquid that reveals brainwashing. (Eridanus)

Toucan-61: allows for storage of heat, which can be unleashed at any time. (Kyoshichou)

Chariot-62: Creates a series of motorcycles. (Gyosha)

Horse-63: increases the user’s jumping potential. (Kouma)

Cup-64: creates goblets for drinking. (Cup)

Hydro Serpent-65: allows the user to fight like a snake. (Mizuhebi)

Pup-66: makes the target act like an affectionate puppy. (Koinu)

Hydra-67: unleashes a beam of dark energy to strike the opponent. (Umihebi)

Rabbit-68: gives the user the powers of a rabbit. (Usagi)

Chisel-69: creates a carving tool. (Chokokugu)

Indian-70: creates a sweltering heat. (Indian)

Table-71: creates a table to sit at. (Table-san)

McCaw-72: Allows the user to teleport elsewhere. (Fuuchou)

Black Cross-73: Generates a cross of fire to repel those with ill intentions. (Minami Juji)

Marine-74: used for survival in inhospitable conditions. (Minami no Uo)

Angle-75: Locates an object’s exact location. (Minami no Sankaku)

Crown-76: locates the highest authority on a planet. (Minami no Kanmuri)

Leo-77: summons the Leo Zord, or the Penta Blaster. (Kojishi)

Sense-78: heightens all the user’s senses. (Reticle)

Hexagon-79: Summons the Hexagonal Slasher. (Rokubungi)

Octagon-80: Summons the Octagonal Slicer. (Hachibungi)

Crane-81: allows the user to fight like a crane. (Tsuru)

Fox-82: renders the user invisible. (Kogitsune)

Oven-83: creates a campfire. (Ro)

Arrow-84: turns the user and his allies into a baseball team. (Ya)

Feline-85: allows the user to fight like a cat. (Yamaneko)

Sail-86: one component of Voyager-89 (Ho)

Keel-87: one component of Voyager-89 (Ryukotsu)

Poop Deck-88: one component of Voyager-89 (Tomo)

Voyager-89: used to lead the way to the Fire Knight’s resting place. (Argo)

Tri-Hound-111: Summons the Tri-Hound Zord. (Cerberus)

Sun/Moon: turns the user into Solar or Lunar Mode, based on the side used. Can also generate light. (Hikari)

Big Bang-315: uses the power of the twelve Rangers to evolve the Red Ranger into Big Bang Mode. (Saiko)

Void: Allows the Silver Ranger to transform into Dark Mode. (Dark)

Black Hole: used by Dark Silver Ranger to finish his opponents. (Black Hole)

All Zords: used to summon all the Zords at once. (All Voyagers)

**Author's Note:**

> This is another “someone did this, and I think I could do something different with the idea” fic. Not least, giving the Don Aslan costume a meatier role.
> 
> If you want to know the origins of the Ranger names, then I’ll explain them here.
> 
> Yuri - named after Yuri Gargarin, the first man in space. His last name is from Michael Collins, the one Apollo 11 astronaut not to land on the Moon.
> 
> Myron - genderflipped from Mira, since Stinger reminded me a lot of the Bakugan character.
> 
> Jiro - a reference to Kamen Rider Kiva.
> 
> Scales - He’s partnered with a snake man and his motif is libra. Need I say more?
> 
> Tarrant - from Taurine.
> 
> Cobras - named for the villain from Puma Man. Thankfully, Yuri isn’t a whiny putz dependent on his servant to do anything. 
> 
> Mila - sounds similar to Chameleon.
> 
> Winda - since her Ranger form has wings, I thought “what the heck?”
> 
> Slash - His weapon of choice is knives.
> 
> Drago: Named for the Bakugan character. 
> 
> Barry: Sounds similar to “bear”
> 
> Proton: See notes for chapter 17
> 
> The name Gingaku is a portmanteau of Ginga (galaxy) and Sengoku (the warring states period of Japan)


End file.
